Traitor
by Ace of Dreams
Summary: Blackout survives the battle for the Allspark, but as far as he knows, he's the only one. The Autobots catch up with him and he's forced to make a decision.
1. Chapter 1

...xXx...

Is it possible to be a traitor to something that no longer exists? Megatron was dead for good this time, his body frozen and crushed beneath this planet's oceans, untouchable, even to most of the Decepticons. The others were gone, probably dead, ripped apart and cast into the water like so much trash. Starscream had deserted them yet again, the worthless coward. There was no one left to answer his signal but the vicious Autobot weapon's specialist who never failed to hunt him down as he tried to rally any other Decepticons who might still have been alive.

Blackout had even returned the the rolling dunes of Qatar in search of Scorpinok, but the servile drone was either dead or too injured to respond to his calls. Blackout combed the white sands for months, scanning, calling, searching for his lost partner. His hails were met with silence.

It was ten months as the humans measured time before Blackout finally abandoned the wasteland, traveling north and east across water and sand until he found a suitable place in the mountains to wait. By now he had repaired most of the damages caused by the filthy flesh bags, and his own internal repair systems had smoothed all of the superficial dents and scrapes. There were still a few large gashes that had yet to close, and so Blackout settled down, raising his dampening field even higher before slipping into recharge.

They would call him a traitor for this. He had done nothing to salvage Megatron's body. He had not attacked or threatened the Autobots since the lost battle in the human city. And even now he was not sure that he ever would again. Starscream would return eventually. He was a coward, but he was a proud and arrogant coward that would not let such an energy-rich world spit in his face and continue living unscathed. Starscream would return, probably with the other seekers and as many powerful mechs as he could find to do his dirty work, and attempt to take this planet from the Autobots. They would fail. If even Lord Megatron could not destroy the Autobots, what hope did Starscream have?

Megatron might have been proud and arrogant, he was neither a coward, nor was he stupid. Blackout nearly cringed as he thought of what rule under Starscream's fist would be like. Starscream had taken control of a faction of Decepticon's in Megatron's previous absence. Everything had gone straight to the Pit shortly after. Starscream preferred to seek immediate gratification rather than think of the long-term affects of his choices. His incompetent leadership, willingness to flee from battle, and inability to command the loyalty of his own troops led to defeat after defeat, bringing the Decepticons to the brink of oblivion as their numbers continued to dwindle. As the death-toll rose higher, Starscream's orders became more erratic. The risks grew higher as Starscream sought to compensate for the previous losses. They had won a few key battles, but it had almost been in spite of Starscream's commands.

Blackout's only hope through those dark times was the fact that Megatron was alive and would one day return and reclaim rule of the Decepticons. But that hope was no longer a reality. Starscream had failed to take the cube, failed to aid Megatron in the final battle against the Prime. Now there was no hope. The Decepticons would perish. It was only a matter of time. Eventually, Blackout's own spark would be extinguished fighting for something that could no longer be achieved.

It would almost be better to serve the Autobots.

Oh yes, they would call him a traitor for this.

...xXx...

"So...you know he's there because you can't see him?" Epps asked over the comm.

They were currently flying over Iran in a C-5 Super Galaxy with the four Autobots homing in on the Decepticon's signal, or lack of signal as it were. They'd been briefed before departure, and chances were that this Decepticon was the same one who had attacked their base almost a year ago. He was the one to initiate the war. It seemed almost fitting that his death would bring about its conclusion.

"We use dampening fields to conceal ourselves from our enemies," Ratchet explained. "But it's designed to work in space. Here on Earth, there is too much matter in the atmosphere. The dampening fields only work if set to a certain level. Set it too high, and the field turns into a black hole in our sensors."

"So, why would he change the field now?" asked Captain Lennox.

"He has probably gone into recharge," said Optimus Prime. "His injuries were grave, and he will be very low on energon by now. Recharge will speed his healing and conserve what fuel he has left."

"So, if we're lucky, we'll catch him while he's napping." Epps grinned. "We'll catch him off guard and return the favor, right?"

"We won't shoot him while he is in recharge," said Ratchet. "No mech, not even a Decepticon, deserves to be shot while off-line."

"You're actually going to let him wake up?" asked Epps incredulously.

"He has a minimal chance of survival," said Optimus. "It is, after all, four against one. And your military will offer us air support should he attempt to flee."

"Then let's do it," said Lennox. "This war is almost over."

Epps' smile twitched.

"Tell me the first thing you're going to do when you get back," he said.

Lennox returned the knowing grin.

"I gonna give my baby girl a hug and kiss for her first birthday," he said.

...xXx...

Blackout could feel the human aircrafts coming into his sensor range. At first he paid them little mind; military planes were common enough in the places he'd been. But he came fully online when they swooped along the edges of his sensor range and surrounded him. The flesh bags were cautious, keeping their distance and forming a wide, loose ring meant to prevent escape. If his sensors hadn't been set to their maximum potential, he might never have noticed him. A moment later, he sensed the large plane, larger than any he'd seen before, coming to land on the nearest section of flat ground. It was definitely some sort of transportation aircraft, and there was only one thing they could possibly want to bring to him.

The Autobots.

How had they found him? Blackout rechecked his dampening fields. They were still on full power. They shouldn't be able to sense him at all, and yet here they were. It would take them some time to reach him where he was nestled in a small, secluded valley. The humans had not fired on him yet, probably believing that he was still in recharge and not wanting to alert him before the Autobots came within range. The fools. It was almost insulting that they thought he would be so careless. Either that or they believed that he was far more injured than he truly was. He could probably escape from the human jets with relative ease, find another place to recharge, and set about waiting for Starscream to return. He should leave now, but he didn't move.

Blackout watched the four Autobots roll out from the massive plane and make their careful way up the difficult terrain. His sensors failed to detect them, unsurprising as they obviously still intended to catch him unaware. He should fly away while he still had the chance, while the Autobots were out of range and detached from their transport. He should leave now. Still, Blackout couldn't bring himself to twitch.

When they came, his death would be quick and assured. When Starscream came, his death would be slow and uncertain. No, he would not wait for Starscream. He was a warrior meant to kill and destroy, and that would be what he devoted his final moments to doing. The Autobots were coming into range.

Blackout did not know how they had found him. He did not know why they did not order the humans to destroy him from the air. What he did know was that they had and they didn't, and that, one way or another, they would regret both.

They were in range.

...xXx...

"Incoming!"

Ratchet veered to the right as the plasma bomb exploded in front of him. It was followed by two more. Optimus, Ironhide, and Bumblebee were almost finished transforming, having forcefully expelled their human occupants. Ironhide was already returning fire.

"He was expecting us!" Ironhide shouted, dodging another salvo.

"Why isn't he trying to escape?" Epps shouted from where he crouched behind a massive boulder. The vegetation all around them was exploding and showering them with debris.

"He must be low on energon or he knows that it is futile," said Optimus, taking careful aim before firing.

The roar of fury and brief halt in the onslaught proved his aim to be true. After that, the battle was short and brutal.

Bumblebee disappeared ahead of the others, moving to flank the wounded Decepticon. Ironhide did the same, moving in the other direction, but continuing his onslaught unabated. Optimus moved forward slowly when given the chance, and Ratchet held back to lay down cover fire. Lennox ordered his team to advance behind the Autobots. They moved forward, firing at the writhing mass of metal that materialized through the haze. When Optimus finally ordered a halt on the attack, Blackout scarcely resembled his former self. His arm twitched and he tried to bring his weapons up.

Ironhide's foot came down on Blackout's arm.

"You're dead, Decepticreep."

Blackout's red optics glowered.

"Better at your hands than Starscreams, you aft-brained piece of scrap," Blackout hissed, his vocalizer hissing with static. Then he added, "but not by much."

Ironhide raised his canon with a snarl.

"Ironhide, wait," said Optimus. "What did you mean by that, Blackout? Why would Starscream want to kill you?"

"Why the slag should you care, Autobot," Blackout spat. giving his pinned arm a half-hearted tug.

"Let me atomize him already, Optimus," said Ironhide.

"Not yet, Ironhide," he said, a little more firmly. "What did you mean, Blackout?"

Blackout was silent for a long moment, apparently trying to decide if it was worth talking to them. Finally, he relented with an annoyed grunt.

"I will never follow Starscream again, and he will brand me a traitor," Blackout growled.

"Can I kill him yet?" asked Ironhide impatiently.

This time, Optimus ignored him.

"Why?"

Blackout gave a low shriek of frustration.

"He is a coward and a fool," he hissed. "He will destroy us all. I would rather die having served Lord Megatron than that incompetent aft-brain."

"He makes a good point," Bumblebee muttered.

"Starscream is the new commander of the Decepticons," said Optimus. "Yet, you will not follow him?"

"Are your auditory receptors glitched?" Blackout snarled.

"If you are a traitor to Starscream, then we share a common enemy," said Optimus.

"Wait..." Lennox was glancing back and forth from the downed Decepticon to the Autobot leader. "You can't seriously be thinking that..."

"As you might say 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,'" said Optimus.

"What?!" Ironhide's roar shook the newly settled debris from the few remaining trees.

Ironhide's look of incredulous fury was only matched by Blackout's, whose was, if possible, even more severe.

"I am no Autobot you oversized piece of slag," Blackout's hiss was cold enough to freeze nitrogen. "Do not insult me with your pompous offerings of peace and friendship. I am a Decepticon still, and I will remain one until my spark is ripped from my chest."

"I hate to say it, but I agree with the slagger," muttered Ironhide, whose canon was still aimed squarely at Blackout's head.

"No, Blackout," said Optimus. "I do not offer you a chance to join our ranks. But in all this time since the Mission City battle, you have not once attacked the humans. Why?"

Blackout slammed his fist into the ground.

"Why do you insist on dragging this execution out?" he snarled. "Tell your soldier to finish me now!"

"Answer me," Optimus' command was calm and reasonable.

"The squishies are of no interest to me," Blackout finally snapped. "Filthy sacks of flesh..."

Optimus seemed to consider this.

"What do you say to an offer of a...truce."

"I say that you're out of your processor if you think that I would agree to that," said Blackout. "It is treason to the Decepticons."

"Refusing to follow Starscream is also treason," Optimus pointed out. "You are already branded a traitor, or will be once Starscream returns. What purpose do you hope to serve by delaying the inevitable?"

"Optimus, are you sure that this is the wisest course of action?" Ratchet asked.

"If he no longer fights against us, we should give him a chance," said Optimus. "My terms are these: you do not harm the humans, you do not aid Starscream or his faction, and you do not attack any Autobots."

"Slag you to--"

"In return, Ratchet will repair you and you will be free to go where you choose," Optimus finished.

Blackout looked as though he dearly wanted to rattle off a list of curses, but Ironhide rapped his canon against Blackout's armor, and he stopped.

"You will not interfere with anything I have to do on this planet?" he asked softly.

"If it does not harm the humans or ourselves, then yes, we will leave you to yourself," said Optimus.

Blackout seemed to struggle with himself.

"Fine then," he spat. "Fine. Truce."

Epps looked over at Lennox.

"This is--" Epps began.

"Trouble."

"I was thinking totally insane, but trouble works too."

...xXx...


	2. Chapter 2

**Note:** Thank you for all of the reviews and support. I am so happy to see this story so well received. Here is chapter 2. Enjoy.

...xXx...

"What is that squishy doing here?"

Blackout, or what was left of him, was currently stretched across the floor of a large aircraft hanger in Nevada. His glaring red optics were focused on a small human femme standing beside Ratchet's ankle. She was a scrawny representative of her race, though that might have been because she was female. Oddly enough, she had a thick belt of tools wrapped around her midsection.

"This is Mikaela Banes, the human who will be assisting me for most of your repairs," Ratchet explained. "Step on her, shoot her, break her, or harm her in any way, and I will rebuild you as a sentient trash compactor."

"Right," Blackout grunted. "Don't scrape up the squishy."

Why had he agreed to this? He had wanted to die in a blaze of glory and fire. But even before he was a warrior, Blackout was a survivor. He had to be if he wanted to endure so long in this war. Slag it, he was as much a coward as Starscream. There was no help for it. He had been cornered and blasted to the Pit and back again, left so debilitated that he could not even kill himself when the Prime refused to finish him off. At least now he was alive with an opportunity to double-cross the overly naïve Autobots. But first, he needed to be repaired, and that would likely take time, time in which he would need to be on his best behavior to elicit a sense of ease and trust from the Autobots. The thought was not appealing.

Blackout continued to stew in his own anger as the little squishy began to reconnect some of the severed wires in his left arm. He twitched. The femme jumped back in shock, snatching her hands away from the moving parts.

"Does it even know what it's doing?" he demanded.

"Mikaela has been my student for nearly a year," said Ratchet. "She is more than competent enough to fix you. Now stop moving before I weld your aft to the floor."

Ratchet gave the squishy a little nod, and she moved forward, albeit a little more cautiously than before, and continued to reconnect the wires. Ratchet had already repaired most of the serious, life-threatening damage. Blackout's chest was no longer a flaming mass of live wires, and all of the ruptured fuel, coolant, and lubricant lines had been mended and replenished.

Unfortunately, his right leg had been completely blown off and was lying several meters away. Various parts from his chest, arms, and remaining leg were set in neat rows behind him. Even now, Ratchet was drawing up the plans for the parts that would have to be manufactured. Blackout growled again.

"Am I hurting you?" the little femme asked.

His optics narrowed.

"Something as _weak_ and _pathetic_ as you could not possibly hurt me," he said.

She blinked at him before reaching into his armor and squeezing a sensitive wire. Blackout let out an involuntary metallic scream.

"Am I hurting you now?" she asked pleasantly.

Blackout snarled and reached up his free hand to smash the squishy into the ground. But Ratchet caught his arm and twisted it, causing another wave of pain to shoot through his body.

"Perhaps I should check your processor for malfunctions," he said blandly. "There seems to be some short-term memory loss."

Blackout snarled again.

"I can turn you off-line for the remainder of your stay here," Ratchet continued. "I can call Ironhide in here to shoot you. Or you can behave, and we can get this over with as quickly as possible. Which would you prefer?"

Blackout merely snarled at the medic one last time before settling back. The femme had retreated behind Ratchet but moved forward again, her mouth quirked in a smug grin. Blackout fumed at the squishy's audacity. Privately, he knew that no one could take him seriously when most of his parts were detached from his body, but that did nothing to lessen the humiliation. Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything to the pest while the medic kept a keen optic on the pair of them. Best behavior... Slag it. This was going to be hard.

"How long will this take?" he asked.

"You should be up and walking in about five days," said Ratchet. "You will be fully repaired in one month."

"One month?" Blackout asked darkly. Somehow, he doubted that he could control himself for that long. "Are your joints rusted?"

"No, but most of yours are missing," said the femme. "And they need to be rebuilt before they can be replaced."

"Quiet squishy."

"She's right," said Ratchet. "I don't want you in my med bay any longer than you have to be. You can leave in two weeks, but your weapons systems and sensors are at the bottom of the repair list and won't be done until the end of the month."

Blackout grumbled incoherently but made no objections.

The femme gave him a wide grin and tapped her wrench against his armor.

"Don't worry, Blackout," she said. "We'll take good care of you."

As the femme continued her work, Blackout began to wonder if there was any way to kill her and make it look like an accident.

...xXx...

The femme worked on his arm for hours as the medic gathered the materials for his new parts. Every now and then she asked him to try and move his fingers or if his receptors were online. His responses were curt but honest. His constant mantra of_don't squish the squishy _was beginning to annoy him, but he found that he didn't really need it when she wasn't trying to talk to him. By the time the sun had set, he had regained most of the motor function in his hand and could move it and grasp things with relative ease. His fine motor functions were still stiff and twitchy, but it was a marked improvement for something so soon.

Then she left. A few hours later, Ratchet put down his data pad and began to reattach the severed leg. By the time Blackout could move the leg again, the femme had returned. Blackout watched as this world's sun rose and set three more times, the femme always leaving and returning with the solar cycles. Squishies needed a pathetically large amount of time for recharge and maintenance. It was probably part of the reason his repairs were taking so long. But in spite of this, by the fifth day, he took his first few steps. His balance was uncertain, and he needed the wall to keep from falling flat on his face, but it felt good to move again. The sense of total helplessness that had been gnawing away at his spark for the past five days was finally gone, or at least lessened. He kept his optics locked on the medic and femme, daring them to laugh at his weakened state. But neither of them did.

Ironhide had planted himself at the entrance to the hanger, glowering darkly at the Decepticon. Ratchet explained that he had to be watched now that he was functioning. The Autobots apparently had a very loose definition of the term "functioning."

"Can't be too careful with Decepticreeps," Ironhide noted.

By the seventh day he could walk almost as well as he had before, which wasn't saying much as he had always spent most of his time in the air. Transforming was still out of the question, but Blackout wanted to see the outside of the aircraft hanger. He didn't care if the other squishies saw him. He could always just step on them if they got in his way. Ratchet called to him as he approached the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I don't answer to you, Autobot," said Blackout.

Ironhide still stood blocking the only exit.

"Move, scrap heap." Blackout's vocalizer wavered from a low growl to a high-pitched whine.

"Says the bot with half his parts on the floor," Ironhide replied, grinning darkly.

"It's alright, Ironhide," said the little femme, coming to stand by his foot. Blackout longed to squash her, but the weapon's specialist revved his engine threateningly. "It would probably be better for him to get out a little anyway. I'll show him around the outside of the base."

"I do not need your help, squishy," Blackout tried to keep his voice low and threatening, but the shrill noise escaped anyway.

"You can turn off your vocalizer now, Blackout," said Mikaela, rubbing one of her ears. "Medic's orders."

Blackout tried to activate weapons systems that no longer existed. Ironhide chuckled.

"Fine, Mikaela," he said. Then he turned a dark optic on Blackout. "If you try anything, and I mean _anything,_ you'll be subatomic particles in half a nanosecond."

Blackout grunted and stepped forward as Ironhide stood aside. The little femme trotted at his heels. She had no trouble keeping up with him as he still had to watch his step to keep from stumbling. His sensors varied from perfectly sharp to pure white noise depending on which ones he used. Sadly, his auditory receptors were functioning perfectly.

"We're about one hundred miles from the nearest civilization," the femme chattered happily. "And that's just a few farm houses. This is a really secluded part of Nevada, and it's guarded by the US military so you don't have to worry about anyone seeing you untransformed."

Blackout grunted.

"This place isn't really the Autobot base so much as it's a rest stop or halfway point for when they want to talk to the government," she went on. "Most of the soldiers who have worked with the Autobots are stationed or reassigned here so that they can continue to work with them and get to know them better."

Grunt.

"The Secretary of Defense has been eager to talk with you, but I've told him that he has to wait. You don't seem to be in the talking or negotiating mood."

Grunt.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

Grunt.

The femme sighed in exasperation before falling blessedly silent for a short time. Blackout attempted to scan the surrounding desert, but it was useless. He could only see what was within normal range for his optics and feel what was within a few feet of him. He wanted to shoot something, but he couldn't even do that much.

Just as he was about to turn away, his communications link hissed. Pausing, he tried to analyze the signal. It was a Decepticon's, but beyond that, he couldn't tell who it was from or what it had said. In his spark, he knew that it was probably Starscream, but he had hoped for a moment that it might have been Scorpinok or maybe even Barricade. Starscream would have to be relatively close for Blackout's damaged link to receive it, somewhere on this planet at least.

The wind began to pick up suddenly, blowing clouds of dust across the wide airstrip. The dust would get inside his open sections of armor and clog his joints, damaging some of the gears. Slag this planet's weather. Slag the Autobot's choice of base. Slag his own weakened and exposed systems.

Blackout turned without a word and made his slow way back to the med bay.

Ironhide was just settling back into his post when Blackout rounded the corner. He had never thought that the weapon's specialist would let him out of his sight, but he was perturbed that his sensors had not once alerted him to Ironhide's presence. It was one thing to know that they were not functioning, but it was another to see exactly how blind he truly was.

Ratchet was crafting a very complex object at his workbench.

The femme retrieved her own set of tools and stood, tapping her little foot, beside his makeshift berth.

"Well, do you want to get started or not?" she asked.

_Don't squish the squishy,_ he thought to himself as he laid down. _Don't squish the squishy._

"Oh great," the little femme whined. "You've gotten sand in your parts. How could you be so careless in your condition?"

_Don't squish the squishy **yet**. Don't squish the squishy **yet**..._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Are you sure you're alright, Mikaela?" For the first few days, Sam's anxious concern had been sweet and endearing. For the first week it was thoughtful but repetitive. By the end of the second week, it was just annoying.

"Yes, Sam," she said. Then, trying not to sound irritable, she added, "Don't worry about me so much."

"But...you spend all day alone with that...thing," he said. "Maybe I should, you know, be there."

"Ratchet and Ironhide are always there," she reminded him, trying to ignore the fact that they had had this exact same conversation almost every day since Blackout's capture. The fact that she had just gotten off of a 16 hour shift was doing nothing to improve her mood. "I am never alone with him. Besides, he still needs me if he ever wants to function normally again. Ratchet would never fix him if he did anything to me. I know it. He knows it. You know it. So please, please stop worrying so much."

They were walking down one of the base's main passageways, its high vaulted ceilings perfect for the Autobots. Most of the base had been under construction for the first six months as the buildings were all carefully modified to the Autobot's specifications. The end result always made Mikaela feel as though someone had zapped with a shrink-ray. This feeling wasn't helped by the fact that the Autobots used things like giant desks, chairs, computers, tools, and berths that only served to enhance the illusion. Even after a year, some small part of her could still relate to the looks of awe and wonder that the new soldiers to the base always seemed to have. But for the most part, the Autobots had rubbed off on her. At first, it had been little things like when she called a new recruit 'glitched' after he pulled an obscene prank on Ironhide. Then she found herself using their jargon almost every day, replacing eyes with optics and voice with vocalizer. But she had written this off as a side-effect of hanging out with Ratchet entirely too much. The final straw came when she started using their swearwords. She knew then that she was a goner.

They turned left into the rec room where Will, Epps, and a crowd of others were enjoying the comforts of normal sized furnishings. The rec room was one of the only human-sized spaces left on the base, and almost all of the humans took full advantage of it. Epps looked up at them as they entered.

"Hey Sam, Mikaela," he called, waving. "Finished patching up ole' Blackeye yet?"

Mikaela paused a moment to be thankful that Blackout couldn't yet hear some of the more creative names the soldiers had entitled him with.

"For tonight," she replied, smiling. "But with how much he complains, you'd swear I was taking him apart rather than putting him back together. I stayed an extra four hours working on him, and he still wouldn't stop grumbling about how much sleep we 'squishies' need."

"Speaking of sleep," said Sam. "Maybe you should get some. You're going to need it when dealing with that thing. Besides, it's really late."

"He's still a glorified pile of scrap," said Mikaela. Then she turned to the soldiers. "You were very, _very_ thorough."

"Just doing our job, Ma'am," said Epps, grinning.

"With how hard you're working on fixing him, I doubt he's going to stay that way for much longer," said Sam.

"We are about five days ahead of schedule," she admitted. "Blackout can even transform now."

At her words, the group fell into an uncomfortable silence. They all trusted Optimus's decisions implicitly, but there were just some orders that the war-hardened veterans couldn't blithely accept. Repairing dangerous enemies, arming them, and setting them loose again was one. Even Sam looked away. Mikaela couldn't blame them. Sam might worry about her safety, but if Blackout turned on them, the soldiers would be the ones who would have to deal with it. She knew they didn't hate her for offering to help Ratchet. But there was a slight tension they all worked hard to conceal or ignore.

"Has anyone figured out what those signals say yet?" she asked, changing the subject abruptly. Bumblebee had spent most of the last week analyzing sporadic signals being sent out all across the world. It was definitely on a Decepticon frequency, but no one had figured out how to break the code yet.

"Optimus thinks he knows who it's from," said Will. "The signals have been scrambled so that we can't tell exactly where they're coming from, but it looks like somewhere in Egypt or Sudan. Since Starscream would have attacked us already, that leaves only--"

"Scorpinok," said Mikaela.

"Yeah, the other desert scrap-heap who doesn't know how to die," said Epps.

They all fell silent for a moment.

"So...who's going to tell Blackout?"

...xXx...

Blackout watched the little femme walk hesitantly into the med bay. She seemed nervous or distracted. Normally he wouldn't have cared, but her pace in repairing him had slowed considerably over the past four days. Blackout was never known for his patience, and what little he had was wearing thin. He hadn't lived this long because he was naïve and trusting of others, even others who seemed to be working for him.

"Oi, Squishy," he growled. The femme jumped. This was the first time he'd willingly initiated any sort of communication with her. "What's taking so long?"

"Sorry, Blackout," she laughed, fumbling with her tools. "Why don't you transform so I can finish your long-range sensors?"

Blackout was sitting in the middle of the med bay in his Pave Low alt-form. While Ratchet finished rebuilding his weapons systems, Blackout caught brief periods of recharge to help speed the repairs along. He was almost completely restored now. There was only his communications and weapons systems left before he was done. Then he would be free of this accursed place.

"Ratchet finished those while you were gone," he said. "My communications link is next."

The femme's smile vanished suddenly. She glanced over at where Ratchet sat with a half-completed warhead. The medic paused and was looking over at the pair of them with guarded optics. Something unspoken and worried passed between them. It was a familiar exchange. Blackout had seen it done before, usually around a prisoner who was about to be executed and didn't know it yet. Blackout's transformation was so fast and sudden that the femme leaped back and Ironhide rushed forward, his cannons charged and ready.

But Blackout made no move to advance on the human or Autobots. Instead, he glanced between the three of them, hating them, wanting them dead, and knowing that he was too helpless to do anything about it. They knew something that he didn't, something that was making the femme nervous and jumpy.

"What aren't you telling me?" he asked darkly. There was no need for mind-games. They all knew that something was going on. The two Autobots glanced at each other. The femme looked up at both of them before sighing and stepping forward.

"The Autobots...have been picking up some strange signals," she said hesitantly. "They think...they think that it might be Scorpinok..."

At first, Blackout was sure that he must have misheard her, but a quick scan of his auditory receptors yielded no malfunction. Then he thought that she must be mistaken. He'd searched for Scorpinok ever since the battle for the Allspark, searched longer and harder than he had ever searched for anyone in his entire existence. Scorpinok couldn't be alive. And yet...

"Where was this signal's origin?" he asked quietly.

"Somewhere in north eastern Africa," said the femme. "Probably in Egypt or Sudan."

The location wasn't _too_ far from where he'd left the drone, but it was far enough that his search of Qatar would have yielded nothing. How had Scorpinok traveled so far when he was clearly damaged, and why hadn't he responded to Blackout's hails until now? He'd just have to ask him when he found him.

"Repair my communications link now," he said to the femme. Then he turned to the medic. "And my weapons systems."

"What are you going to do?" asked the femme as though the answer wasn't already obvious.

"I'm going to find my partner, Squishy."

...xXx...

Blackout was soaring across the vast Sahara desert two days later. He didn't really know why, but the femme had doubled her pace when repairing him, staying even longer into the dark hours of night than she had before, more than making up for lost time. Blackout's repairs were finished a week ahead of schedule. And he hadn't even threatened her.

Blackout finally picked up and homed in on the signal. It was definitely from Scorpinok. The message itself had been simple:

_I'm here. Find me._

The coordinates were specific enough to give Blackout a general location of where to search but not so specific that the Autobots could locate him in the sands should they intercept it. Blackout was sending his own signal on the Decepticon frequency and using his newly repaired scanners to analyze the shifting sands. Scorpinok's signal suddenly appeared on his scanners. He veered to the left and glided over a high dune to find the drone latched onto a cell tower. Well, that explained why he hadn't responded to the hails. The squishies had damaged Scorpinok's communications systems, and he needed the tower to amplify the signal. Blackout landed and transformed in time to see Scorpinok fall from the wire frame as though dead.

Blackout stepped forward and scanned his partner, finding him dangerously low on energon. If he had been even a few days later, Scorpinok would have gone into stasis lock, and Blackout might never have found him. Scorpinok fastened himself into the niche on Blackout's back. He connected their energon lines, allowing the fuel into Scorpinok's body. Running a quick diagnostic over his partner, it was easy to see that the drone had found enemies among the squishies. There were bullet holes and gaping wounds from mines and bombs. Some were old enough to have been from the first attack, but others were as recent as a few weeks. Without his tail, Scorpinok was virtually defenseless, and he would have needed to go near the oil fields to convert the fuel into enough energon to survive. One wound, probably from a bomb of some sort, had clipped a main energon line. It was dripping his life away even now. Scorpinok was a tenacious little drone to have survived so long in such hostile territory. Blackout transformed back into a Pave Low, and he began his slow journey back to the Autobot base.

When he had left the Autobots, he had deluded himself into thinking that he could siphon enough energon from this world in order to leave it and never return. But Scorpinok was in dire need of repairs, and there was only one medic on this planet who would even think of helping them.

...xXx...

"Absolutely not."

For the past three weeks, Blackout wanted nothing more than to have his weapons back. Now that he had them, he was forced to deal with the sickening frustration of not being able to use them to get what he wanted. All four of the Autobots were standing on the airstrip to greet him when he returned with Scorpinok. They, at least, had no illusions about what condition Scorpinok would be in when Blackout found him. Ironhide and Ratchet were standing at the entrance to the med bay, Optimus Prime was directly in front of him, and Bumblebee was off to one side, standing guard over the little femme and a host of other squishies all armed with heavy artillery.

The greeting was warmer than he expected.

Unfortunately, when Blackout flatly demanded that Ratchet fix Scorpinok, he ran into a little snag. The medic didn't want to help.

"Why not?" Blackout's asked. It took a controlled effort to keep from blasting them into the ground.

"As you pointed out when we made the truce," said Ratchet. "You are not an Autobot. You are still a Decepticon and will remain one until your spark is 'ripped from your chest.' The truce compelled me to repair you, but that drone is also a Decepticon, and repairing him is outside of our agreement."

Blackout was almost shaking with anger. Ironhide seemed to sense this, his cannons spinning slowly, just asking him to attack. It took some effort, but Blackout reined in his temper.

"I can't fix Scorpinok," he said flatly. "He needs to be repaired." Then Blackout paused. He knew that the next few words were going to be the most painful he'd ever spoken. "What do I have to do before you will help him?"

If he could have seen how low he would sink, Blackout knew he would not have tried to survive the battle for the Allspark. As arrogant and cowardly as Starscream was, he had never stooped so low as to beg an Autobot for anything. But Blackout's optics did not waver from where they rested on the medic. There was a breathless silence as everyone waited.

"If you want my help, you will have to wait," the medic said at last. "There will be an Autobot entering Earth's atmosphere soon. He is injured and will need my help before he can get to the base. I should be back within a week and will work on him then _if _you haven't broken our agreement."

Blackout sighed inwardly with relief while he grumbled angrily on the surface. Scorpinok was not in any immediate danger of going into stasis lock. He could wait a week. It would be a difficult and maddening week, but Blackout had survived worse. Then the little femme stepped forward.

"Ratchet, how badly has Scorpinok been damaged?" she asked.

"Obviously, he's lost his tail," said Ratchet. "But the US military has it, and it's been regenerating itself the whole time, so it should be a quick reattachment job. His communications systems are damaged and he has a steady leak of energon from a main artery. So, of course, I'll need to restock his energon lines and repair the cut. Right now, he's leeching energon from Blackout, so it's not serious. His outer armor has also been compromised, but his own internal repair systems should take care of those in their own time once he's been refueled."

"I think that I can handle most of that while you're gone," said the femme.

After a moment, Ratchet nodded.

"You're probably right," he said. "The tail will be here by tomorrow morning. All of the spare parts are on my desk. Use whatever you need. If you run into any difficulties, you can always contact me."

The femme smiled and trotted over to where Blackout stood.

"Well, let's get him into the med bay," she said, smiling widely.

Three weeks ago, Blackout would have scoffed at her offer. Two weeks ago, he would have flatly refused. One week ago, he would have grudgingly accepted with much grumbling and complaining. But now, Blackout merely followed the femme into the med bay. Ironhide was close behind, but Blackout couldn't bring himself to object to that either. The femme stood beside the makeshift berth he had used during his stay, tapping her foot impatiently as she always did.

"Oh come on," she said. "I don't bite. I swear!"

Slag. This was the Pit. He just knew it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note:** Sorry for the gross delay for this chapter, but I came down with a vicious case of the flu that left me unable to do anything even remotely resembling thinking for over a week. I finally did get around to finishing this chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it.

...xXx...

Blackout tried not to think about how he could stand so casually in an Autobot base, unchained, free, and present of his own volition, however reluctant that volition might be. During those excruciating days when he was being repaired, Blackout had thought of little but how he would kill the squishy, how he would slice her open and remove her still-functioning organs, how he would tear her limbs off slowly, how he would grind her frail body into sticky red paste. These thoughts gave him some small solace while he lay helpless to her whims. Now they gave him nothing.

It wasn't that Blackout had suddenly grown a conscience; he doubted that that was possible. He just wanted to put this miserable place behind him as quickly as he could. Once Scorpinok was repaired, he would go to the other side of this world and siphon energon from their power plants. The Autobots wouldn't be able to get to him before he'd completely refueled. And then he would be free of this world, free to travel the galaxy as he chose, free to find a new star, a new world where they had never heard the names Autobot, Decepticon, or Allspark. Total freedom...And the only thing standing in his way was the slow pace of a little squishy femme he should have been trying to kill. He hated irony.

Said femme was humming tunelessly as she carefully mended a large fissure in Scorpinok's armor. The 'Con twitched his tail every once in a while as though to check to see if it was still there. He'd only had it reattached yesterday and was shamelessly reveling in the fact that he was whole once more. The squishy seemed almost as delighted as Scorpinok. She began using a peculiar dialect when speaking to the 'Con. Blackout had, at first, thought that there was a glitch in her language programing, but the other squishies called it 'Baby Talk.'

"There," said the femme happily. "Widdle Scorpy feeling better now?"

Scorpinok chirruped happily in response, flicking his tail. The 'Con was a drone and had no direct communications capabilities with anyone beyond his link, so talking with the squishies was beyond his capabilities. This was probably why the femme was treating him like a squishy sparkling, much to Blackout's annoyance and Scorpinok's delight.

Thankfully, she was almost done. The energon artery repair was done within the first hour, the femme taking energon from Ratchet's spare stores to replenish his fuel tank. Scorpinok's tail arrived by aircraft early the next morning, and the femme spent most of the day and the next reattaching thousands of wires and welding metal plates together. Earlier today, she had started on the communications systems, but decided to repair some of Scorpinok's armor instead, reasoning that Scorpinok's internal repair systems could focus on fixing the far more delicate communications link while she worked on the more straightforward external repairs.

Blackout hovered behind the femme while she worked, never straying far from his partner, who seemed to be enjoying the attention immensely. The femme put down her welding instrument and removing the shield over her optics to examine her work more closely. Running a hand over the surface, she seemed pleased with the result. Scorpinok was now purring loudly as the femme stroked his smooth back. The femme began to coo nonsensical words and phases at the drone, to which he replied with random chirps. Blackout did a quick scan of the 'Con and found that all of the wounds to the heavy armor were now sealed. Good. Only one thing left.

"Proceed to the communications link," said Blackout. This was taking too long. He wanted to be gone before the other Autobots returned with whichever fool had just landed. This whole ordeal was humiliating enough without a larger audience to witness his misfortune.

"You're so impatient, Blackout," said the femme mildly.

Scorpinok whined suddenly.

"Poor baby," the femme murmured. "Scorpy wants his voice back. Yes he does. Well, we'll just have to get it back, won't we!"

'Scorpy' gave another happy noise, and the femme began tinkering again. Blackout wasn't sure if he could take much more of this. Why couldn't this femme just have an off switch? Maybe she did and he just didn't know where it was yet. Blackout thought briefly of what the femme would do if he started looking for it.

"Mikaela," Ironhide spoke from his usual place beside the door. "The others will be arriving at the base shortly. You should come out and meet our new comrade."

"Oh, who is it?" asked the femme, pausing in her examination and looking up. Scorpinok whined softly, and the femme placed a comforting hand on his head, stroking the metal slowly.

"An old friend," said Ironhide. "Ratchet's fixed him up. He's almost here."

"That...actually took longer than I thought," said Mikaela. "He must have been pretty bad off."

"He was, but there isn't a whole lot that Ratchet can't fix when he sets his mind to it," Ironhide grinned. He tilted his head and nodded absently. "They've arrived."

"What about them?" asked the femme, gesturing at Blackout and Scorpinok, Ironhide snorted,

"Bumblebee and Ratchet will watch the 'Cons," he said. "Ratchet wants to see the work you've done so far anyway."

The femme put down her tools and rubbed her small hands on a nearby rag.

"Alright," she said. "Let's go meet the new guy."

...xXx...

Optimus Prime was standing on the airstrip with at least thirty soldiers crowded around his feet. The stranger stood slightly aside. Mikaela raised her hand to shield her eyes against the late afternoon sun. The two giant cybertronian warriors were mere silhouettes against the dusty red sky. Will's team stood out among the humans, standing closer to the newcomer and talking animatedly. Mikaela looked up at Ironhide, but the mech didn't seem at all perturbed by the newcomer.

"Um...Ironhide," she asked tentatively, "why is Barricade here, and why isn't anyone shooting him?"

The police car mech was standing so stiffly, he seemed out of place among the two relaxed Autobots. Ironhide looked at her as though he thought her processor was malfunctioning.

"Barricade?" he asked. "This is Prowl."

"Prowl?" Mikaela echoed blankly.

"Come on, you need to meet him," Ironhide gestured to where the others were waiting. "You'll never think he's a Decepticreep again."

"...Okay." Mikaela turned back to Prowl dubiously.

Prowl glanced over at the pair of them and gave Ironhide a curt nod before looking down at Mikaela.

"Are you the femme designated 'Mikaela?'" he asked, his voice a smooth, flat monotone.

Mikaela blinked.

"Er...yes, I am," she said.

Prowl's blue eyes focused and narrowed slightly.

"Your files indicate that you have had extensive training with Ratchet concerning the repair and maintenance of cybertronians." It wasn't a question. "It also states that you have conducted a broad range of repairs on the Decepticons Blackout and Scorpinok."

"Yes," said Mikaela. "But I already know all that. Is there a question in there somewhere?"

"What is the current status of the Decepticon Scorpinok?"

"He's almost finished," said Mikaela. "I just need to give him his voice back, but Ratchet's probably already taking care of that."

Prowl turned without another word and began to speak to Optimus in Cybertronian. It was a language that Mikaela only knew two words of: 'Hello' and 'Danger.' The latter was used several times, but even those were difficult to pick out in the static, warbling mass of high-pitched trills, low growls, and varying metallic sounds that made up their language. Still, it wasn't too hard to guess what they were talking about. Mikaela turned to Ironhide with a raised brow.

"Prowl is our second in command," he explained. "A very no-nonsense mech. You get used to it. Comes in useful most of the time. Nothing gets by him, and no matter what, he never forgets what the 'Cons can do if you leave your back turned."

He said it in such even tones that Mikaela wondered whether it was an informative speech or admonishment of her relaxed behavior around the two Decepticons. Probably both.

It was a moment before she noticed that both Prowl and Optimus were walking toward the medbay.

"Prowl wants to meet our guests," said Ironhide.

...xXx...

Of all the Autobots that could have limped their way across the stars to crash into this backwater piece of dirt, fate would be cruel enough to make it this Pit-spawned scrap-heap reject. Blackout stood fuming before the blank-faced mech with a sour glare to equal his mood. Prowl folded his arms across his chest and regarded the black Decepticon with irritatingly cold perception.

"Your companion is almost repaired, Blackout," said Prowl slowly. There was no inflection in the 'Bot's voice, no clue as to what he was thinking or feeling. It almost unnerved Blackout how much like Soundwave this particular Autobot could be. "When Ratchet has finished restoring his communications systems, you will vacate the base."

There was no hint of threat or anger in his tone, merely cold fact.

"I wasn't planning to hang around," said Blackout darkly. The rotor blades across his back twitched slightly.

"Then there will be no difficulties," said Prowl. With that, he turned and walked away. Blackout growled softly, tempted to crush his overly-composed vocalizer into scrap. Instead he turned back to where Ratchet was scanning Scorpinok again. The communications link crackled slightly, drawing his attention away from the Autobots.

:_Can you hear me, Master?:_ Scorpinok's faint voice slid easily into Blackout's consciousness. Blackout opened the link farther.

:_I can, Scorpinok:_ he replied privately. :_What is your current status?:_

_:I am repaired, Master:_ Scorpinok gave an audible trill of happiness along with a mix of silent sounds across the link.

:_Come then:_ sent Blackout. :_It's time for us to get out of here:_

Blackout hadn't expected the sudden, distressed sound that emanated from Scorpinok's vocalizer. Blackout blinked as he was bombarded by sounds, images and feelings over the link. He could suddenly feel the grit and dull sting of old wounds left in the open air too long, the little femme's warm hands soothing away those aches and pains, the soft, warm murmurs of comfort, the bright, warm smiles. The warmth, so unlike the harsh heat of the desert, was tinted with the first sense of happiness the drone had felt in a long time. He didn't want to leave.

Blackout growled.

:_They are Autobots:_ he snapped at the drone. :_Now come!:_

Scorpinok hesitated before giving a reluctant noise of consent and uncurling from his berth with rusted sluggishness. Blackout wanted to berate the drone further, but the medic and weapons specialist were glaring at him with the all too familiar why-are-you-still-here look. Coming here to help Scorpinok might have been a mistake, but whatever it was, it was done now. The Autobots wanted him gone, but not nearly as much as he wanted himself gone. Freedom was almost within his reach now. Blackout snatched the drone from the ground and had already opened the compartment in the back when the femme stepped forward.

"Wait!" she shouted. Blackout paused. "I want to say goodbye to Scorpinok."

Blackout didn't even get a chance to respond as Scorpinok trilled gleefully and leaped from his loosened grip. Instead, he merely growled as the femme hugged and cuddled the drone. This behavior was undignified for a Decepticon. When it had gone on longer than he thought he could bear, Blackout snarled and snatched up the drone again. Scorpinok whined but didn't try to escape as Blackout draped him across his back. He transformed, ignoring the femme as she called out a final farewell to them both. Then they were gone, soaring across the dusky Nevada skies. Blackout turned to the west, flying into the bloody sunset and toward his ticket off this backwater mudball. Finally, there was nothing in his way.


	5. Chapter 5

The night was cold and clear. Blackout drifted lazily on the currents of air, gliding over the low purple mountains and parting the cloak of mist like a black ghost. Within his armor, Scorpinok dozed in light recharge, his engines purring softly near Blackout's spark chamber. It was a small comfort he had thought he would never feel again. Blackout dipped closer to the ground as the power plant came within visual range, scanning it and jamming their security systems simultaneously. It was a prime target, its remote location and low security detail singling it out among the possible objectives Blackout had canvased. He was circling now, still searching for the quickest way in and out. He didn't want to destroy the place. If he did, the Autobots would on top of him like rust in salt water. Besides, there was no guarantee that he could extract enough energon from this place to leave Earth. It might take attacking two or three plants, and he didn't want the other squishies upping their precautions after the initial assault.

Blackout dropped even lower, nearly brushing the treetops, before ejecting Scorpinok. The drone burrowed into the ground instantly and turned toward the southern wall. Blackout charged his canons. A quick burst of power would be enough to knock out their electronic equipment, but he'd have to be careful not to damage anything else. If he were lucky, they would write this off as a terrorist attack or maybe even just an unexplained malfunction. Blackout barely paused to think that he had never been that lucky.

A swift energy burst from his canons knocked out the power. There were screams from the south wall, panicked shouts and orders to secure the perimeter. Blackout landed carefully beside the towers and transformed, connecting to the power cell.

:_They're shooting at me_: Scorpinok said calmly. It was unlikely that the squishies had anything that could do any real damage to his armor, especially now after the squishy femme repaired it, so the bullets were really little more than a nuisance.

As he had expected, the power drain was like watching coolant freeze. The minutes dragged by as he converted the piteous amount of electricity into energon. It was the lowest grade energon he could use and not risk damaging his arteries. But converting it to high-grade would require hours, and the squishies were already approaching him. His scanners showed them nearing his position. It was dark, and their eyes were poor, but even they would not be able to overlook him soon. Blackout broke away from the power cell and leaped into the air, transforming back into a Pave Low even as his rotor blades lifted him up.

:_Circle to the west, Scorpinok. I'll pick you up over the ridge_: Blackout heard the drone give a quick affirmative before switching directions and heading west.

Blackout scooped him up a mile away and took to the skies. It had gone just about as well as could be expected. It was quick. He was in and out in under ten minutes. Not bad considering his infiltration programming wasn't as sophisticated as Barricade's. And, just like he'd expected, he hadn't gotten enough energon. Thankfully, his next target was only a hundred miles to the west and within the boarders of another human 'country.' These squishies might not have been at war with one another, but they wouldn't be quick to share information either. Mistrust was something that Blackout had learned to exploit a long time ago.

It would take him about half an hour to get to the next target. After that, he could reach the third target in a little under forty minutes. Right now he only had one third of the fuel he would need to get to the nearest energy-rich world. From there he'd hop from world to world until he found what he was looking for.

Whatever that is...

Scorpinok wriggled slightly, and Blackout felt the link twitch.

:_They damaged a circuit in my left claw:_ Scorpinok told him. Then he added hopefully. :_The femme can fix me:_

Blackout scanned Scorpinok quickly. The injury was minor, so minor that he might have overlooked it entirely if he hadn't known it was there. He repressed a snort.

:_Your internal repair systems will take care of it:_ he sent. He paused at the unhappy feeling that spread over the link. Then he added softly :_You can't go back. They are Autobots. They are our enemies. The femme is your enemy:_

_:Enemies don't fix enemies:_ The sullen response made Blackout snarl.

:_Do you want to stay with them or with me?:_ he demanded.

Scorpinok was a moment in answering.

:_I want to stay with you, Master:_ he said, though the link was still colored with regret. Blackout growled, saying nothing.

Slag the Autobots. Slag the Decepticons. Slag this whole glitched war.

Blackout continued to fume the entire way to the next power plant. His temper might have led him to be slightly more abrupt with the squishy's security systems. Scorpinok said nothing as Blackout refueled. These squishies were even more ill prepared for his assault than the previous ones. They were so concerned with Scorpinok that they didn't even notice Blackout stealing their power until he was almost ready to lift off. Thus, he ended up getting even more energon than he had any right to hope for. Things were looking up.

:_Blackout:_

Blackout's rotor blades stalled and he nearly dropped out of the sky when he heard Starscream's raspy voice over the communications link. He scanned the signal quickly to verify its origins. Starscream was about 4.859 million miles from Earth but closing rapidly.

:_Blackout, respond:_

Could he escape? Blackout ran the probability scenarios. here was a slight chance that he could get away before Starscream's arrival. There was an even slighter chance that Starscream hadn't returned with enough reinforcements to hunt him down. Blackout checked his fuel. If he tried to run, he'd fall short of his goal and be left hanging dead in space. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. He was so close!

_:Blackout, Soundwave has located you on his scanners. I know that you are there and that you can hear me. Respond now:_

Blackout estimated the distance between himself and the final power plant. He'd have to chance destroying it. If it came between the wrath of the Autobots and the wrath of Starscream, Blackout was more prepared to take on the Autobots, especially if Starscream had Soundwave with him. But he'd have to deal with Starscream, Soundwave, **and** the Autobots if he didn't leave now. Blackout estimated their speed. It didn't look good. Starscream would arrive before he could get off-world. He was dead if he stayed and dead if he tried to leave.

There was no help for it.

:_Blackout here:_

:_So good of you to respond:_ Starscream's venomous sarcasm nearly dripped from the communications link. :_What? Not happy to hear from me?:_

:_Who have you brought with you, Starscream_?: asked Blackout, ignoring the question. It would be better if he knew who he would be trying to outrun. :_I hope you came back with enough fire power to take on the Autobots seriously this time:_

:_I have brought more than enough troops to defeat the _Autobots: said Starscream confidently. Not good enough.

:_The Autobot Prowl arrived a short time ago, and he will not be so easy to defeat as the others:_ Blackout offered, still fishing. This earned a pause.

:_Even he will be no match for three Seekers and Soundwave:_ And he sings. Not that his tune was music to Blackout's auditory receptors.

Three Seekers: that meant Skywarp and Thundercracker would be with him. Blackout could almost feel his spark dim. The Autobots would still destroy the Decepticons eventually. That fact was inevitable. They had Prime, Ironhide, and Prowl on their side along with the primitive yet massive organic military force. Besides that, the Autobots had established bases and had Ratchet to repair them if they became injured. Shockwave was the closest thing the Decepticons had to a medic, and the scientist was halfway out of his processor most of the time, not to mention that he was apparently still on Cybertron. The Seekers and Soundwave might be able to kill one or two of the Autobots, but in the end, this world was too much of a death-trap for any of them to escape. Starscream, you glitch.

:_Where will you make planet fall?:_ Blackout asked. There had to be a way out of this mess. If Starscream could always find a way out, then so could he.

:_Your location is convenient:_ said Starscream. :_There are many power sources nearby. The squishies are too stupid and arrogant to guard them properly. We will refuel there before we attack the Autobots and their squishy allies._

Refuel. That meant that there would be a short break before the attack, a break in which he could finish his own refueling. Then, while Starscream's troops were busy with the Autobots, he could escape. He might be no match for the Seekers in terms of speed, but they would be far too concerned with the Autobots to worry about him.

He had a way out.

:_This power plant is the optimum target:_ said Blackout, transmitting the coordinates. He could tolerate helping Starscream for the next few hours if it meant that he could get away. It was a small price. Blackout measured their distance again. It was now only about 1.349 million miles. They would have to slow down slightly as they closed in on this planet, making their arrival time about ten earth minutes.

Scorpinok shuddered against his armor, sensing his master's thoughts over the link.

Blackout gave a slight burst of speed. It would take him a little over ten minutes to reach the power plant and he didn't want the Seekers to get there first.

But they did get there first.

Blackout crested a low rise to find the power plant he'd investigated several hours ago. It was a mass of flame and debris. There were a few screams from fleeing or dying humans. A few of their primitive ground vehicles were scattering into the wilderness. Skywarp and Thundercracker were circling the plant, leisurely picking off the few humans who still managed to cling to life. They had chosen f-22 altforms nearly identical to Starscream's save for the coloring. Starscream and Soundwave were on the ground in their natural forms, Starscream having ripped apart several buildings searching for the power cell.

Skywarp made a quick turn and shot straight toward Blackout. The Pave Low barely managed to duck away from the speeding jet before Skywarp vanished with a deafening crack, reappearing behind him. There was a mad cackling from the Seeker as he sped around, circling Blackout mockingly.

:_Took you long enough:_ he hissed. _:Piece of slag altform, you have. These squishies don't have much, but they've got better than the piece of scrap you've chosen:_

Blackout growled.

:_It's for blending in, Skywarp:_ he said. :_A skill foreign to your processor, I know:_

_:Heh. Why blend in with your enemies when you can blow them up?:_ Skywarp's voice cackled with glee as he fired another round of ammo into the ruins. The building exploded, fiery rubble cascading down with a fresh wave of screams from the humans taking refuge inside.

:_Stop playing with the squishies:_ Starscream growled. :_Get down here and refuel. I don't want to waste any more time:_

Skywarp shot one final missile into the building before transforming midair and landing with a heavy thud beside Starscream. Thundercracker broke off his attack and circled the building once before landing behind Skywarp. Blackout followed more slowly, taking care to land before transforming. Skywarp and Thundercracker were already fighting to see whose turn it was to leech power from the cell. Soundwave turned to him.

"Decepticon Blackout," he said in his flat, detached voice. "Report."

The simple command was one that he was familiar with. Blackout resisted the urge to growl.

"You want the whole story or just the stuff after Megatron was scrapped?" Blackout asked darkly.

"Most recent events will be sufficient," said Soundwave.

Blackout grunted as he thought of what to tell the stoic mech. The less the better. So Blackout filled Soundwave in on how he searched for Barricade and Scorpinok for almost a year, how he had found Scorpinok in Egypt, and how he was currently attempting to refuel as far from the Autobots as possible.

"Explain your refusal to respond to the hails," Soundwave demanded.

"Would you jump at the chance to talk with Starscream?" Blackout retorted.

"Answer insufficient."

"Too bad, Soundwave," said Blackout. "I don't answer to you."

Skywarp and Thundercracker had finally gotten their fill of energon. Blackout stepped forward and took the cell into his hands. The energy crackled at his fingertips, waiting to leap into his body. He pulled at the power, absorbing it into himself, consuming the energon as though he were starving. When at last his reservoir was filled, he pulled away, almost reluctantly. He hadn't had such a long drought of power in eons. This world was so rich, it was no wonder everyone was willing to fight for it.

"I have a mission for you, Blackout," Starscream rasped. Blackout turned to him.

"Something more specific than 'Destroy the Autobots' I hope," he said.

"You will attack the city where Megatron fell," said Starscream. "Destroy what the Autobots have tried to rebuild. Let them know that we are here. Tear the whole city to the ground."

"And where will you be?" Blackout growled. No! He needed all of Starscream's troops together in one attack so that he could escape without risking notice until he was already gone.

"I will attack the Autobots as they come to the rescue," said Starscream. "Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Soundwave will attack other cities. The Autobots will be forced to split up. The fools will try to save all of the squishies. When I give the signal, come to me and attack the Prime. They're all ground-based and can only move as fast as their pitiful wheels allow. We can swarm them before they even know we're there. After Prime is dead, we will attack Prowl, and then Ironhide. We will pick them off one by one as they attempt to save the humans."

Blackout allowed himself to feel a brief flicker of awe that Starscream had managed to come up with a plausible, workable idea, though somehow he had an inkling that Soundwave was probably the processor behind this particular strategy. He might still have his chance for escape, but he would need to destroy Mission City first. It was a small price. He felt Scorpinok shudder slightly.

"I'll leave now," said Blackout.

"Good."

He transformed and lifted off, flanked by Skywarp and Thundercracker. If all went well, he'd be off-world in the next two hours. Blackout tried to pretend that he didn't hear Scorpinok's low whine.


	6. Chapter 6

**Note:**This chapter's a bit longer than the other ones, and it was written in record time too. I know I've been neglecting to thank all of my reviewers, but I really do live for reviews and want to show my appreciation for taking the time to tell me what you think. Thank you all. Enjoy.

...xXx...

Blackout was almost glad that he had chosen to refuel halfway across the world. It meant that he would be given precious time to think as he returned to Mission City. He was soaring over a vast expanse of ocean when he finally called out to Soundwave.

:_What is your part in all of this?:_ he asked, not bothering with small talk and knowing that it would be lost on the reticent mech anyway.

:_Question indeterminate; more information required:_ Soundwave replied immediately.

Blackout grunted.

:_I mean, you've always been loyal to Megatron:_ he said. :_I could guess that Starscream would get the other seekers to back him, but why did you decide to tag along. Megatron cannot be salvaged. You probably shouldn't be here:_

:_Information incorrect:_ Soundwave disagreed.

:_Which part?:_

_:Megatron will be restored:_

:_Megatron was torn to pieces and dragged to the bottom of an ocean:_ Blackout said. :_Unless you've been rebuilt to withstand an environment with super-high pressures and sub-freezing temperatures, I don't think you're going to be getting him back any time soon: _Blackout paused. :_And that's not even including the fact that he's, you know, _dead:

:_Location description and leader status not consistent with previously recorded data:_ said Soundwave.

:_Previously recorded data?:_ asked Blackout. :_Where did you think he was?:_

Blackout felt the sudden burst of data over the link. It was the hydroelectric dam Frenzy had infiltrated over a year ago.

:_You're intel is a little out of date:_ said Blackout dryly. :_He was stored there before the battle for the Allspark, but he hasn't been there for a long time. He's here:_ Blackout transmitted the coordinates. :_I watched them bury him under those waters myself:_

_:Information accepted:_ said Soundwave. :_Investigation required:_

_:Oh, and what are you going to do when you realize that I'm right?:_ asked Blackout cautiously. Dissent among the ranks might help or hurt him now.

:_An alternate strategy must be employed:_ said Soundwave.

:_How does this 'alternate strategy' affect our dear new leader, Starscream?:_

:_He will be punished:_ said Soundwave simply. From any other mech, Blackout would have assumed the punishment to be some minor task or labor, but something in the blank mech's deceptively neutral tone suggested something far worse than the average reprimand. Blackout grinned.

...xXx...

Thundercracker sped over the third possible target for his assault. Slag Blackout for having chosen such a lazy altform. It would be a while yet before he could start blowing things up again. At least it had given him a chance to explore this new world and peruse their information network. The squishies weren't nearly as dull or stupid as Starscream made them out to be. They might have been incredibly dense at times, but Thundercracker found that studying the content on the information network helped to pass the time. Skywarp was not so easily amused.

:_Is he here yet?:_ the other seeker whined for the 179th time. Skywarp was currently speeding across open land roughly 2038 miles to the west, just waiting for his chance to blow up a city the squishies called Los Angeles. Starscream didn't trust him around the squishies. Skywarp had this unfortunate tendency to start shooting when he got bored, and since he got bored whenever he wasn't shooting at something, there was nothing to stall the boredom while they waited for the Pave Low.

:_If you don't stop asking that, I'll personally rip out your vocalizer, 'Warp:_ said Thundercracker absently. He was busy scanning the city, Washington D.C., the squishies called it, for defense systems that he might be forced to dodge. As near as he could tell, they were sorely ill equipped to handle an attack of any kind. In fact, the only places that seemed even remotely defensible were a large white dwelling and a pentagon-shaped building. As near as Thundercracker could tell, they were centers of power in the human society. This was so pathetic he almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

:_But he's taking so long:_ Skywarp complained. :_Why do we even need to wait for him? I could get here faster than him with two broken wings and--:_

_:Enough:_ Starscream snarled over the link. :_Cease this petty sniveling. Blackout has almost arrived:_

:_About time:_ Skywarp grumbled.

Thundercracker sighed heavily. Starscream might have been the leader and Skywarp might have been the overzealous soldier, but some days Thundercracker felt like he was watching over two sparklings. He angled sharply to the left, beginning a wide circle around the city. There were already squishies who had noticed his presence and were informing him that he had entered restricted airspace and would be shot down if he did not vacate it immediately. Thundercracker almost laughed at this. Their audacity to think that he could be downed by their primitive weapons was almost as ridiculous as their lack of any true defenses.

:_Blackout is in position:_ said Starscream._ :Begin the attack:_

Time to blow stuff up.

Thundercracker fired.

...xXx...

Blackout wasn't sure how long Soundwave's investigation would take. In the meantime, all he had to do was play along. He just had to pretend to be the same as he was before the last battle. Simple, correct? Or maybe not so simple.

When Blackout first transformed in the middle of a crowded street and leveled his guns at the fleeing squishies, he felt the rush and thrill that always accompanied his terrorizing of lesser beings. But when it came time to fire on them, Blackout hesitated. Most of the squishies were fleeing as fast as their little legs could carry them, just as they should be. But there was a dark haired femme just standing in the street, looking up at him. It wasn't the same femme who had repaired him, but how could she stand there, unmoving in the wake of his arrival? He tried to pull the trigger and end her miserable existence. To his slight shock, his fingers didn't move. It should have been easy. Blackout tried again, and he failed again. Growling, Blackout concentrated on trying to move his fingers, to squeeze the trigger and deal death the the little organic. It should have been so easy...

At last the femme moved, stumbling away and screaming that shrill screech they made when they were afraid. Blackout snarled. What had they done to him? Had the femme altered his programming while she was repairing him? It was a fairly common practice for Decepticons to catch Autobots and release them again as Decepticon slaves, but the act had always been beneath the Autobots, something that they stood so firmly against that the very idea seemed ludicrous. And yet here he stood, unable to fire on the squishies. She must have done something to him. There had to be a way around it. He could not be an Autobot slave. He scanned his programming. There was nothing out of place, nothing that had been altered that he hadn't done himself.

Blackout snarled and swung his arm around, pointing his weapon at a nearby building and forcing his weapons to fire. The building exploded in a hail of debris that scattered into the street, raising a new series of shouts and screams as the squishies rushed madly to get away from him. Blackout shook his head. They were only squishies. It shouldn't be this hard.

Frustrated, Blackout transformed back into a Pave Low. How long did Starscream expect him to keep this up? He wouldn't be safe to leave until the other Decepticons were engaged in battle. Blackout tore the roof of a skyscraper to pieces with his missiles before ducking away and gliding between two other buildings. It was only as he tried-and failed-to shoot the squishies a third time that he made a significant and unsettling discovery.

He didn't want to kill them.

It was within a nanosecond of this internal revelation that he was forced to dodge an Autobot cannon burst. Blackout veered to the side and soared higher, scanning the ground where the shot had come from. The Autobots shouldn't have been this quick to arrive. The one shooting at him was the scout, Bumblebee, and he wasn't alone. The small human who had killed Megatron was with him, standing off to the side uncertainly. Blackout grunted. The scout would be no match for him while he was in the air, and the human would be even easier to destroy. He aimed his guns at the pair, but Bumblebee scooped up the human and dodged to the side ducking into an alleyway. Blackout didn't fire, and instead slipped away between two other buildings.

:_The scout is here:_ Blackout told Starscream over the link.

:_I've got Prowl and Ironhide:_ Skywarp cackled. There was a sudden burst of static as he fired his missiles on the Autobots.

:_My scanners indicate that the Prime and medic are heading my way:_ said Thundercracker. :_They're using a human aircraft to get here. But even at its top speed, it should take a while:_

_:I'll just have to shoot it down then:_ Starscream rasped. :_Skywarp, Thundercracker, Blackout, rendezvous here:_ Blackout checked the coordinates. It was about 500 miles to the east.

:_Skywarp moving:_

_:Thundercracker responding:_

_:Blackout incoming:_

Starscream would probably start the assault as soon as the other seekers arrived, which would be long before he did. They would be expecting a delay. Blackout angled sharply upward and began to climb through the layers of air. It was now or never. Scorpinok stirred.

:_Won't the femme be with the medic?: _he asked quietly, opening a private link so that only Blackout could hear.

Blackout slowed slightly but continued to rise.

:_Probably:_ he grunted. :_Why?:_

Blackout felt the link quiver as Scorpinok sent over many of the same images and feelings that he's shown Blackout before, but this time they were colored with a sense of debt, a feeling that he owed the femme something for what she had done. The feeling of warm hands soothing away old pains lingered the longest, clinging to the link with gentle strength.

There was a burst of static over the other link.

:_Heheheh, and down they fall:_ Skywarp laughed. There were more bursts.

:_Forget the squishies:_ snarled Starscream :_Focus on the Prime!:_

:_But they're so fun to shoot:_ said Skywarp gleefully.

There was more static, only drowned out by Scorpinok's whine.

:_Please, Master:_ he whispered. :_She'll die:_

Blackout looked up. The black fabric of space stretched above him, almost close enough to touch. He didn't even know if the femme was with the medic, and he probably wouldn't have another opportunity to escape as cleanly as this. Scorpinok whined again.

:_Please...:_

Decision made, Blackout gave another burst of speed and set off toward his goal.

...xXx...

Mikaela huddled lower behind the rocks as another hail of pebbles showered over her. Will and Epps were crouching behind the boulders to her left. Mikaela looked down at the hand gun she was carrying. When Will had given it to her, she had thought it was powerful and dangerous, but now it just felt like a small hunk of metal, less than useless against giant alien robots. There was another deafening _boom_ as the three seekers rained another fiery salvo down on Optimus and Ratchet. Will had already called in air force backup, but they weren't due to arrive for another few minutes.

Optimus had managed to find a niche in the hillside where he could fire on the seekers from relative safety. Ratchet was a bit father back, taking shelter behind the downed C-5 Galaxy. The sparsely sheltered hillside didn't leave a whole lot of options for hiding places. Optimus had already wounded the purple one, its wing smoking as it limped across the sky, trying to stay out of range and continue firing on the Autobots. One of Ratchet's well aimed shots struck the blue one near its tail, and it swerved to avoid crashing at Optimus' feet.

Starscream roared furiously and turned his guns on the medic. Ratchet tried to duck away, but there was no escaping the missile that ripped though the Galaxy like it was a cardboard cutout.

"Ratchet!" Mikaela called, watching the medic slump to the ground. "Ratchet!"

Optimus didn't turn, too busy trying to keep the seekers at bay to check on his fallen comrade. Mikaela turned from Ratchet to Optimus and back again. Closing her eyes, she counted to ten, trying to calm her breathing. When she opened her eyes, the smoke had cleared and Ratchet lay unmoving in a pile of rubble. Mikaela brushed her disheveled hair out of her eyes and moved to kneel. The wounded purple one shot above their heads, firing into the rocks where they hid. Will turned to her.

"Mikaela," he shouted over the open distance separating them. "Mikaela, don't..."

"I have to help Ratchet," she shouted, standing up and bolting across the open expanse to the next shelter. She paused there and waited for the blue one to pass before dashing to the next safe place. Then again as Starscream swooped low. Finally, she was kneeling beside Ratchet. He was off-line, his chest armor badly damaged and partially melted from the heat. Thankfully, his spark chamber was intact and most of the major circuitry was undamaged. He was leaking energon in rivers, though, and would go into stasis lock from lack of fuel if she didn't mend the severed lines.

Mikaela removed the pack of tools she always carried and found the tool she was looking for. It was a Cybertronian invention made for sealing their arteries and one that she had grown entirely too familiar with when patching up both Blackout and Scorpinok. She sent out a private 'thank you' for all of the extra practice. It would be put to good use now. Mikaela scanned the sky for the seekers again before climbing onto Ratchet's chest and beginning to work. She moved quickly, sacrificing quality for the sake of time, glancing up and around every few seconds even as her shaking hands continued to move. Ratchet wouldn't be coming online any time soon, but she could keep him from being damaged beyond repair.

Another deafening _boom_ erupted a short distance away, showering Mikaela with another wave of debris. She ducked, throwing her hands over her head and glancing up when she didn't hear Optimus return fire. Oh no, she thought. Oh no, no, no...

There was a sudden shriek of jet engines all around her, and Mikaela leaped from Ratchet's chest to crouch beside his arm.

"Yes, we have air support!" shouted Epps. Sure enough, when Mikaela looked up, she saw the sky filled with F-22s, ospreys, predators, and several aircraft she didn't have names for. The whole sky seemed to explode.

"Mikaela, check on Optimus!" Will shouted.

Mikaela hesitated. One quick look told her that Ratchet would be alright until she could get a better look at him. Jumping down, she ran to the Autobots leader, who was beginning to sit up even as she approached. Movement was generally a good thing. As she reached him, the purple seeker came on the wrong end of a missile from one of the real F-22s, which sent him crashing to the ground in an impressive ball of fire.

"I'm fine, Mikaela," said Optimus. As he shifted slightly, Mikaela noticed that he no longer had a right arm.

"Fine?!" she asked incredulously.

"Ratchet will need to look at me," he admitted. "But first, how is he?"

"He'll live," she said simply. "Get down here. I need to seal those lines before you lose too much energon and cut off the power to those damaged circuits. Fine he says. Fine my aft."

Mikaela sealed the lines quickly and efficiently. She found the sensor nodes in his shoulder and deactivated them, shutting off power to the sparking wires so that they wouldn't set fire to his fluids. She looked up to see the two remaining seekers performing an impressive display of aerial gymnastics to both avoid the other planes and to shoot them down. Starscream and the blue one were proving much harder to hit than the purple one. Mikaela watched anxiously as Starscream shot down three predators in quick succession.

"Alright, Optimus, you look good," said Mikaela. "I need to go and check on Ratchet again and see if I can't wake him up. Just stay down until I get back."

Optimus nodded.

Will and Epps met her halfway, their guns aimed at the seekers should they try another attack.

"How are they?" Will shouted.

"They'll be fine when we get them back to the base," Mikaela shouted back. "I just need to check on Ratchet again and see if I can get him back online."

"Good, we'll cover you," said Epps.

Mikaela nodded again and ran back to Ratchet. Waking him up shouldn't be that hard. There was nothing she could do about his armor, but she could do something about the damaged pieces in his chest. She was digging in her pack when she heard Will and Epps shouting at her, and turned just in time to see Starscream hover above their position, transform, and land only yards away. Starscream made a wild grab for Will, who dove out of the way, missing the clawed hands by inches. They were quick to fall back to the rocks, firing all the while at the Decepticon. When Starscream realized he could no longer grab them, he turned to Mikaela, who only then realized exactly how far from cover she really was.

Pulling out her worthless handgun, Mikaela emptied the whole clip as Starscream approached her. But when her gun began to _click_ uselessly, she turned tail and ran. Starscream scooped her up into his clawed hand easily. The glass compartment in his chest popped open as he brought her close, and he deposited her in the clear prison even as he transformed. Mikaela thought she heard a shouted "Cease fire, he has a hostage!" from Will or Epps before the hatch sealed, killing all sound from the outside world. Sure enough, the onslaught ceased, and Starscream fled unhindered with the blue seeker behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

...xXx...

As Blackout homed in on Starscream's signal, he realized that he probably shouldn't be risking his life for a squishy. Moreover, a squishy that he didn't even like very much. But for some odd reason, he couldn't bring himself to care. Scorpinok was still huddled in the niche in Blackout's back, alternately happy that they were going to help the humans and worried over the state of the femme. It was only when Blackout's sensors showed Starscream and Thundercracker fleeing the battlefield that he paused.

:_Have you lost already?:_ he asked over the link.

Starscream's snarl was answer enough.

:_Did you at least kill the Prime?: _he asked. :_And what the slag happened to Skywarp?:_

_:The Prime lives, as does the medic:_ said Thundercracker darkly. :_So does 'Warp, but the squishies have him now. They came out of some of the aircraft in swarms and deactivated him at close range. They want him alive for something:_

:_Autobot sentimentality:_ Blackout chuckled, though he was already thinking of his next move. Starscream would try to attack the Autobots again, and Scorpinok would give him no rest until he was sure the femme was safe. Slag. More delays. _:How did you get away?:_

:_I captured a squishy:_ Starscream sounded vindictively cheerful at this. Blackout felt a pang of dread. Of all the squishies in the world it couldn't possibly be... :_It's a squishy femme. She was trying to repair the medic in the middle of a battle. These things deserve death if only for their stupidity:_

There were over six billion squishies on this planet..._six billion..._and Starscream just had to choose _that one._ Scorpinok began to whine softly.

:_Quiet:_ Blackout hissed over their private link. :_I'll get her back safe. So stop whining. My auditory receptors are starting to ache:_

Thankfully, Scorpinok quieted.

:_What are you going to do with the squishy?:_ he asked Starscream.

:_When I get out of their sensor range, I'll kill it:_ said Starscream. :_Maybe I'll give them the corpse back or just dump it in the ocean:_

_:Why waste a hostage?:_ Blackout asked, hoping that his response wasn't too quick. :_If she is important to them, you can demand something for her return. Besides, if she was trying to repair the medic, she'll probably have medical training:_

_:Why would I care about that?:_ Starscream scoffed.

:_For you to flee the battle, either you or Thundercracker must be about ready to fall out of the sky:_ Blackout pointed out. :_Without Shockwave here, a medic might be...useful:_

There was a long pause as Starscream thought it over.

:_I like that idea:_ he said at last. :_Use the squishy, then trade her to our own advantage. What do you have in mind for the trade? Maybe the life of an Autobot for the life of their pet squishy:_

:_Nothing so great:_ Blackout cautioned. :_The squishies are not __that__ valuable to them. They won't endanger the life of an Autobot to get her back. But the Prime might agree to hand over Skywarp. Just make sure greed doesn't get the better of you, Starscream. If you ask too much they might refuse your demands entirely:_

:Starscream paused to think about this.

:_Alright Blackout:_ he said. :_The femme lives...for now:_

'_And_ 'for now' _is all it will take for me to steal her from you_,' thought Blackout. '_Your stupidity will kill you yet, Starscream.'_

...xXx...

Mikaela huddled in on herself, rubbing her arms furiously. She was beginning to wish she'd brought a coat as the cold danced over her arms like an army of needle-toed caterpillars. Her lungs ached as she tried to breathe the thin air. As little as it was, Starscream was probably providing life-support to make sure that she didn't completely freeze or suffocate. How long that would last, she didn't know. He obviously wanted a hostage to buy his way out of danger, but something told her that he wouldn't be quick to let her go. He might even let her die.

Starscream hadn't spoken to her since he had taken her hostage, and Mikaela hadn't been forthcoming with chit-chat either. She glanced down at her pack. Her tools were in there, instruments of healing that could also be used for sabotage. Mikaela swallowed thickly. How much could he feel inside his cockpit? How much would his sensors tell him about her actions? If she tried anything, would he cut away what little air she had and let her suffocate? If she did manage to do some real damage, would he crash? A fall from this height would surely kill her.

Hadn't Prowl mentioned something about injuring Starscream?

...xXx...**Yesterday**...xXx...

"Killing the Decepticon Blackout is the wisest course of action," said Prowl. He was speaking directly to Optimus Prime, though at Mikaela's request had reverted to English instead of Cybertronian. "He is a dangerous adversary to release, and his defection from the Decepticon cause was shaky at best. With the three seekers and Soundwave arriving soon, he will surely rejoin the Decepticons."

"Wait, how do you know who's coming?" Mikaela interrupted. Prowl glanced down at her.

"I met them in battle shortly before arriving," he said. "They injured me greatly, but it was no less than I dealt to Starscream in return. That is why they were delayed. Starscream needed repairs, but he was ill-equipped to handle the damage. I do not believe he will take the time to repair his short-range weapons systems or sensors. He would be more concerned with repairing his long-range weapons and heavy armor. His internal repair systems will allow him to function, but he will be greatly weakened. Also, it will cost him a great deal of energon." Prowl turned back to Optimus. "We will know he has arrived when he attacks a human power source. Then, he will likely attack your human allies. I would suggest stationing one Autobot in Mission City, and perhaps in this world's capital or military center. There are many places here with dense populations that would be prime targets for Starscream's revenge, and the humans are incapable of defeating them."

Mikaela might have made an indignant retort to that statement, but she had seen what Starscream alone could do. Having three of him and this ominous Soundwave would almost certainly be more than they were prepared to handle.

"But if he's damaged, he should be easier to defeat...right?" she asked.

"True, but fliers have always held a considerable advantage over ground-based fighters," said Prowl. "There will be five Autobots pitted against four fliers and Soundwave. Even if Starscream is injured, his speed, mobility, and strength will more than adequately compensate. Only someone able to penetrate his outer armor and access his internal systems would be able to exploit his injuries."

...xXx...**Present**...xXx...

Well, she'd penetrated his outer armor all right, and she had the equipment to access his internal systems. She just didn't expect to be his prisoner in the stratosphere when she did it. How long would it take Starscream to realize what she was doing? How long would it take him to kill her? Was it worth the risk?

Mikaela closed her eyes and tried to calm her labored breathing. It was time she admitted that she probably wasn't going to be getting out of this alive. And if she was going to die, it might as well be while doing something worth dying for. Mikaela dragged her bag into her lap and pulled out a cybertronian scalpel.

...xXx...

"So...now that we have it, what exactly are we supposed to do with it?" Epps asked, prodding the off-line purple Decepticon with a stick.

"Find a way to use it to get Mikaela back," said Will.

"Well, they have Mikaela, and we have—Skywarp was it?-- so maybe they'll want to negotiate," said Sam. "We have to get her back before they do anything to her."

"Somehow, I don't think 'negotiate' is in their vocabulary," said Epps.

"Even Decepticons will discuss terms with us if they feel it suits their needs," said Optimus. He was sitting unnaturally still on a ledge of rock as Ratchet began the arduous task of reconnecting the severed limb. Ratchet himself looked terrible, his chest so badly mangled that several soldiers asked why he wasn't dead. There were over a hundred soldiers stationed just down the hill, their weapons poised to shoot the still-unmoving Decepticon. Several hundred others were busy setting up a perimeter.

"Do you think they'll talk to us?" asked Will.

"They are now damaged and outnumbered on an enemy world," said Optimus. "They have lost whatever element of surprise they might have had and realized that the human military can also play a role in their defeat. There is a slight chance that they will meet with us to improve their situation."

"And if they don't want to meet?" asked Sam.

"Then it is likely that Mikaela is already dead," Ironhide growled.

They all fell silent for a long moment. Optimus made a sound like a human clearing his throat.

"But we're not going to assume that she is dead until we're sure," he said, sending Ironhide a warning glance. "We will do everything in our power to ensure Mikaela's safe return, but we can do nothing until they talk to us."

"And how long will that take?" asked Sam.

"With Starscream, there's nothing for certain," said Optimus. "It could be in the next few minutes or--"

"There is an incoming transmission, Sir," said Bumblebee. "It is from Starscream."

"Well...speak of the devil," Epps muttered.

Starscream's voice suddenly hissed from Bumblebee's speakers.

:_Prime:_ he rasped.

"Starscream," Optimus replied coolly. "What have you done with Mikaela?"

:_Oh, don't worry, Prime:_ Starscream chuckled. :_The squishy is safe with me. And she'll stay safe...as long as you meet with my demands, that is:_

"What are your terms, Starscream?"

:_Meet me at these coordinates at this time:_ There was a momentary pause. :_and bring Skywarp—alive. One live squishy for one functioning seeker. My brother for your precious pet:_

Optimus glanced from where Skywarp lay down the hill to where the humans sat beside him.

"I will meet with your terms," he said. "Prime out."

There was a soft _click _as the line was abruptly severed.

Optimus moved to stand.

"Sit down," Ratchet growled, grabbing Optimus' shoulder and forcing him back on the berth. "You won't be ready to leave for days."

"The designated time requires me to leave within the next hour," said Optimus.

"You're not ready to meet the seekers, not in your condition," Ratchet disagreed. "Now sit still before I weld your aft to this rock."

"This isn't looking too good," said Will. "How do we know we're not walking into a trap?"

"If it's a meeting arranged by Decepticreeps, it's automatically a trap," said Ironhide. "But not going isn't an option, so we just have to be ready for them."

"Optimus," Prowl interjected. "Is trading a Decepticon hostage for a human the wisest course of action? Skywarp can do us a great deal of harm if he is returned to the skies. The femme should be a calculated loss for the greater benefit of all."

The reaction from Sam and the soldiers was sudden and violent. They were shouting, swearing, and threatening Prowl, though even the Autobot's keen auditory receptors couldn't quite identify all of the names he was being called. A rock bounced off of his chest armor with a clatter.

"Calm down, calm down," said Optimus loudly. It took a few minutes, but they finally fell into a reluctant silence. "Prowl, Mikaela has fought by our side to protect this world. She deserves no less than a captured Autobot. Is that understood?"

"Affirmative," said Prowl.

"Good," said Optimus. "I would like your advise on how best to approach this situation."

Prowl was silent for a long moment as he ran the scenarios and probable outcomes.

"Starscream will anticipate your presence, Optimus," he said at last. "Failure to present yourself will be taken as a sign of weakness and would be detrimental to our bargaining position. The same will be true if you are clearly injured. I would suggest that Ratchet build you the outer shell of an arm with minimal movement capabilities since a full recovery will not be possible. A show of strength, even an illusion of it, has always been the most effective method of dealing with the Decepticons."

"Well, a shell of an arm is a possibility," said Ratchet doubtfully. "You won't have fine motor functions, and getting in any fights will rip it right off, but I can build you something that _looks_ like it works if that's what you want."

"Do what you can, Ratchet," said Optimus.

"I'm still worried about Mikaela," said Sam.

"Don't be," Epps laughed. "Mikaela's spent so much time 'round the Doc, she'll probably have those Decepticons jumping through hoops by the time we get there."

Sam smiled weakly.

"Yeah, that sounds like her," he said. "The Decepticons don't know who they're dealing with."

"And they won't find out until it's too late."

...xXx...

:_Lazerbeak report. __Information acquired. Observations conclusive. Megatron's location inconsistent with Starscream's reported data. Megatron's location consistent with Blackout's reported data. Alternate strategy to be implemented immediately:_

...xXx...

For the first few minutes, Mikaela hardly dared to breathe as she inserted the scalpel into the control panel and cut downward. Her heart was beating against her ribs as she gently pried the dark metal away from the internal circuitry. When Starscream made no protest, no move to indicate that he knew what she was doing, Mikaela let out her breath in a soft sigh. '_Thank you, Prowl, thank you, thank you, thank you,'_ she thought before peering into the dark opening.

If Starscream had taken her only a month ago, Mikaela doubted that she would have known where to begin. At the time, the most work she had done on a cybertronian was routine maintenance, and even then only on Autobots. Ratchet explained that the while the Autobots and Decepticons were very similar, they had modified themselves in different ways over many thousands of years, making them all unique.

But then Blackout arrived in the med bay with a 'Some Assembly Required' sign taped to his back, and she spent nearly three weeks practically living inside his armor getting to know every component like the back of her hand. Blackout and Starscream were far from twins, but Mikaela could guess at where to start. If she did this right, when Starscream landed, she could shut him off like a light switch.

A shadow passed across the cockpit, momentarily blocking out the sun. Mikaela looked up in time to see a Pave Low settle into formation to Starscream's right. Blackout. She would know his shape anywhere after having spent so many weeks repairing him. Repairing him. Fixing him. Giving him back his weapons and setting him free. Sam and Bumblebee had seen him tear apart Mission City. Blackout had tried to kill innocent people, _had_ probably killed some of them. And she had made it possible. She couldn't even say that Ratchet would have fixed him, because Blackout would still have been in the med bay if she hadn't sped his recovery along.

It was her fault. She was to blame.

Mikaela felt her stomach clench and her hands begin to shake. As she turned back to Starscream's internal systems and began severing wires, she realized that Optimus had been wrong.

It would have been better to let him die.


	8. Chapter 8

**Note:**Well, here it is: the last chapter. I call it the Super Chapter because it is considerably longer than most of the other chapters. Originally, this was supposed to be two chapters, but because I hit a writing streak and wrote about 2000 words on Friday, I just decided to post them together. Enjoy.

...xXx...

What the slag is she doing? Blackout reset his optics twice and ran a brief diagnostic on his sensors. There wasn't any error, and the femme was still digging around inside of Starscream's control panel. What was she thinking? Was she thinking? Maybe her processor had gone on the fritz from lack of oxygen. Or maybe she was just insane. '_Like I have room to talk,'_ he thought sourly. The fact that Starscream hadn't muttered a word of complaint was slightly disconcerting. Had she managed to cut the power to his sensor nodes without his noticing? Probably not. Perhaps he was already damaged from the battle with the Prime. Maybe from even before that.

Blackout grunted.

Not that it mattered. Starscream was sure to figure it out eventually. The femme must be dead set on getting herself killed. And it was still his job to keep her alive. Lucky, lucky him.

:_Blackout:_ Starscream rasped. :_Conceal yourself in that ravine. Stay there until the Autobots arrive and attack them from behind:_

And he still had to contend with the Master of Bad Ideas as well.

:_Don't you think they'll notice that I'm not with you?:_ he asked, trying to keep his condescending thoughts out of his tone. :_We are too far outnumbered to be playing these games, Starscream. We cannot win a battle, not even an ambush, with so few people:_

_:Watch yourself Blackout:_ Starscream hissed. :_I've let you get away with questioning my decisions, but you get above yourself. I have given you an order, and you will follow it or I will shoot you out of the sky:_

Blackout paused. This was what he feared: a Starscream who felt that his power was threatened. Blackout was careful to weigh each word carefully before he spoke.

:_My apologies, Leader:_ he said quietly. :_But I would advise that you not take such risks when the life of your brother hangs in the balance. There will be times to slaughter the Autobots, but now we must strengthen our own position or risk utter destruction:_

Blackout waited uneasily. Starscream would either take it very well or very badly.

:_Your impudence is forgiven:_ said Starscream arrogantly. Blackout sighed softly. :_You will not attack the Autobots. Stand in plain sight and don't_ _do _anything _to endanger Skywarp. If you do, I will kill you:_

Leave it to Starscream to make the ambush sound like Blackout's idea. Starscream slowed as they neared the meeting place and transformed midair. Blackout's rotor blades stuttered slightly, and he ran a quick scan over Starscream to make sure the femme hadn't been crushed. But she was fine, having been pushed forward into the small glass cocoon in Starscream's chest. Thundercracker landed before transforming. The act was slow and pained, taking far longer than was normal. Blackout landed beside them and transformed as well.

Starscream popped open the compartment and caught the femme in his hand.

"Alright, squishy," he hissed. "Time to earn your life...and continued good health."

"I...if you th...think that I'm going to help you with anything, then you're processor is overdue for a tune up, buddy!" the femme's small voice steadily rose in volume until she was nearly shouting at the end, but the underlying quiver belied her fear.

Starscream's optics narrowed.

"Watch your vocalizer, squishy," he growled, tightening his grip. Blackout took a small step forward before realizing what he was doing. "You will do as I say, of I'll grind you into mush."

The femme opened her mouth, and Blackout doubted it was to be cowed or humble.

"Be careful, Starscream," Blackout warned. "Dead hostages don't earn much with our enemies."

The femme turned to him. She opened her mouth as though to say something but closed it again, turning away in disgust.

"Fine," Starscream hissed. "You, Squishy, will do as I say or..." He caught her small foot between his fingers. "I will twist your limbs, break them, crush them, until you will wish for death. I don't have to kill you to make you suffer."

"I suggest that you do as he says," said Blackout. "If you do, you will go home alive. If you do not, you will go home in pieces."

The femme didn't even look at him. He saw her small jaw clench and her eyes turn away from them both.

"...What...do you want me to do?" she asked quietly.

Starscream smirked.

"I thought you might feel that way about it," he said. "I have a little job for you..."

...xXx...

Blackout watched the femme carefully as she began her work on Thundercracker. Starscream had taken his time while threatening her, taking a sadistic joy in commanding his hostage, occasionally squeezing her if he wanted to make a point. She made soft squeaks of pain when Starscream forgot his strength, and Blackout knew that she had suffered some minor damages from her ginger movements as she went over to examine the damaged seeker. He had little doubt that she would repair him, but he wouldn't put it beyond her to do some sort of undetectable damage as well. After all, she hadn't been digging around inside of Starscream because she was curious. Whatever she had done, Blackout hoped it would be effective. He would need all the help he could get against these two.

Starscream wasn't ignoring the squishy either. He might not have any medical programming, but he was nothing if not an extremely skilled fighter. He could always tell when severe damage had been done. '_Don't do anything stupid,'_ Blackout thought. '_Not yet, or not anything that he can see.'_

But the femme was either being extremely complacent or cleverly subtle about what she was doing, because when Thundercracker finally stood up almost three hours later, he seemed to be in fairly good condition. The femme sat down and slumped forward, the movement conveying her exhaustion. Blackout moved to stand behind her, shading her from the sun. This place was filled with ravines and hills but had sparse organic life for the femme to take shelter under. She turned to look at him briefly, seeming to notice the gesture. Her brow furrowed downward in an expression Blackout recognized as confusion.

"They're here," Starscream hissed.

Blackout's scanners noted the six shapes moving in their direction, identifying each one. Optimus Prime, Prowl, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide, and an off-line Skywarp. Bumblebee and Ironhide carried humans with them. Blackout grunted. Never underestimate an organic's desire to self-destruct.

Starscream strode over and scooped up the femme. Blackout knew that this negotiation was going to go to the Pit. No matter what he told Starscream, he knew that the seeker could not see an Autobot without trying to shoot it. Likewise, Prowl and Ironhide would be quick to fire if a Decepticon so much as twitched in a way they didn't like. Things were too tense, too charged for this to go smoothly. Blackout just had to ensure that he was there to keep the femme out of the line of fire. Speaking of which...

"Starscream," said Blackout. "Will you check on Skywarp to make certain he is still functioning?"

"Of course."

"Then perhaps I should hold the femme while you check on your brother," he said reasonably.

Starscream grunted and dumped the femme into his hands. Blackout cupped her gently, being careful not to squeeze but also not letting her fall. She glared up at him and shook slightly, though whether it was with fear or anger, he didn't know. The Autobots rolled up and transformed after letting their human passengers out. They settled into a tight formation, Optimus Prime and Ratchet standing nearest the captive and clearly unarmed while Prowl, Ironhide, and Bumblebee stood to either side with their weapons drawn and aimed. The humans stood back. There were only four of them: three soldiers and a the boy who killed Megatron. Blackout readied his canons. When Starscream botched this trade, he wasn't sure who he would be shooting at. Maybe the Autobots, maybe Starscream, maybe everyone.

"Mikaela, are you unharmed?" Optimus asked.

"I'm just peachy," she said, turning to look at him.

"Bring Skywarp online," Starscream hissed, stepping forward.

Optimus nodded to Ratchet, who bent over Skywarp. He came online with a jolt, twisting his head. His limbs twitched, but he didn't stand.

"What have you done to me, Autobots?" Skywarp snarled. His arm twitched again.

"We'll remove the restraints on Skywarp when you return Mikaela to us," Optimus said to Starscream.

Starscream seemed to suffer a brief spasm in his arm as he tried to control his temper. Blackout tensed slightly. '_Not yet, Starscream,'_ he thought. '_Not yet.' _Instead of shooting, Starscream nodded for Blackout to hand over the femme.

Blackout stepped forward. Once she was safe, he could find a way to deal with the seekers. Once she was safe...

Blackout's scanners warned him before he saw the light. He turned away as the space between the Autobots and Decepticons exploded. Blackout held the femme against his chest where she would be safe from the blast. Before the debris had finished falling, there was gunfire. Blackout was already moving, diving out of the fray, still keeping his back to the battle. Two energy blasts ripped into his rotor blades, but they were mere glancing blows. Apparently, the Autobots didn't want to risk the femme and Starscream wasn't concerned with his actions.

There were shouts and screams, and then the sound of three jet engines revving. Blackout looked down at the femme. She was huddled in his hand, her arms wrapped around her head for some sort of meager protection. His scanners told him when the seekers fled. And then they showed him something else: Soundwave approaching fast from the north. Blackout recognized the explosion now. It was one of Soundwave's signature attacks.

Well it looked like the mech had finally finished his investigation.

Blackout snarled. Why, why couldn't it have taken only a few minutes longer? He couldn't leave the femme here. The seekers might attack from the air. He couldn't stay either. The Autobots would blow him to pieces. Well, that left only one alternative. It looked like Scorpinok would be having some company for a while. Blackout transformed and leaped into the air, making sure the femme was safe inside him before taking off and flying to the south.

...xXx...

With his damages, Blackout couldn't fly as fast as he would have liked. As it was, he was straining his ability to move. If the Autobots had fired on him while he fled, he would have been shot down. Well, now he knew why Starscream had taken her in the first place when his battle had turned sour. The femme could be useful.

When he was certain that they were out of reach of the Autobots, he landed.

"Alright, Squishy," he growled. "Time for you to get out."

The femme hesitated before obeying. She got out and stepped back a few yards.

"What do _you_ want with me?" she asked. "What do the Autobots have that you want?"

"Nothing," grunted Blackout, transforming. "You're not my hostage, Squishy."

"What, you thought I wanted to come along to enjoy your charming conversations?" she scoffed. "Why am I here?"

"You're here because..." Blackout paused. Somehow, 'because Scorpinok made me' didn't sound dignified enough. "You're here because I chose to save your life."

The femme snorted.

"I seem to recall you taking me _away_ from my friends a little while ago," she told him. "If you wanted to help me, why didn't you leave me there?"

That was a good question. He could have said that it was because the seekers might have attacked from the air and killed her. He could have said it was because Soundwave might have set off another bomb. He could even have said that the Autobots might have accidentally shot her in the midst of the battle and that it was better just to remove her entirely. But even as these reasons occurred to him, Blackout realized that this was not really the case. He had taken her because he knew that the Autobots couldn't protect her as well as he could, and as long as that was his mission, he would do it to the best of his abilities.

Blackout's prolonged silence earned him a frown from the femme.

"The Autobots are incompetent fools and could not possibly have protected you," he grunted finally.

"And why are you suddenly so concerned with protecting me?"

Blackout _really_ didn't like the direction this conversation was taking, so instead of answering her question, he ignored it entirely.

"What were you doing to Starscream?" he asked.

"I was—don't change the subject!" she snapped. "Answer my question."

"No. Now answer mine," Blackout growled.

The femme opened and closed her mouth several times before sighing. She pulled her bag from where it hung around her shoulder and dug inside for a moment before pulling out a small scanner and flicking it on. Blackout knelt down beside her to examine it more closely. It looked like a normal scanner, but about one tenth the size.

"I hotwired Starscream's and Thundercracker's main electrical circuits to respond to the specific frequency of this scanner," she explained with a hint of smugness creeping under her tone. "The push of a button, and I can fry their circuits temporarily."

Whatever Blackout had been expecting, it wasn't that.

"How long can you take them out for?" he asked. "And why didn't you use it before?"

"It only lasts about thirty seconds," she said, sounding slightly displeased. "I couldn't program it for more without risking doing obvious damage, and with Starscream breathing down my neck with a gun barrel pointed at me, I didn't want to risk it. And this scanner is only a short-range scanner, so I have to be within about ten feet of both of them when I use it, which is why I couldn't use it before. They were too far away."

"When _you_ use it?" Blackout asked. "What makes you think you will be using it? Give it to me, Squishy."

If this thing did what she said it did, then Blackout had a way to take out Starscream and Thundercracker. It would give him the surprise advantage he would need against Skywarp, and hopefully the other two would still be off-line when he turned on them.

"No," the femme interrupted his train of thought.

"No?" he asked.

"It's not like you can use it anyway," she said. "It's too small."

This was true. The scanning device might have been of cybertronian design, but it was smaller than the palm of her hand. Ratchet had the tools to make something as small and complex as this, but only because he was built with medical appendages. Blackout took the device from the femme, pinching it carefully between two fingers and pointedly ignoring the femme's warning not to break it. He transformed his free hand several times, but couldn't find a tip fine enough to operate the buttons. With a grunt, he handed it back to her.

"How do you intend to get within ten feet of those two?" he asked.

"Well...I probably couldn't do it on my own without getting squished, but with your help..." she trailed off, looking at him expectantly.

"Suicidal tendencies must be a prerequisite for squishies to hang around the Autobots," said Blackout. "How the slag have you managed to survive this long?"

"I've always had really, really good backup," she said, "and a lot of luck."

"I could use some of that," Blackout muttered.

"Look," said the femme. "I don't really know why, but I can tell that you hate Starscream. You want him out of power, and I want him off my planet. You need my help to take them down; we both know that much. If you can stop being grouchy long enough to work with me, we can both get what we want."

Blackout hated getting backed into corners, but the femme had this annoying habit of being right.

"Fine," he said. "Just try not to get yourself killed."

...xXx...

:_Decepticon Blackout. Respond:_

Blackout was flying over a small ocean when Soundwave's voice emerged over the communications link. The femme was tucked inside of him, cuddling an ecstatic Scorpinok, whose tail was waving so hard it nearly scraped some of Blackout's armor.

:_Not going to try and blow me up again, are you?: _he asked.

:_No such objective exists: _said Soundwave. :_Current objective: inquiry. To whom do you owe allegiance?:_

_:Without Megatron, no one: _said Blackout. :_Least of all, Starscream:_

_:Requesting assistance while dealing with Starscream's treason: _said Soundwave. :_Objective: capture and deportation of seekers Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker to Cybertron:_

Blackout grinned. Well, the squishy could give him luck, and Soundwave was definitely the kind of backup he could use.

:_Request granted: _he said. :_And there's something you should know about how I intend to deal with the seekers...:_

...xXx...

Finding Starscream wasn't difficult. He had found an abandoned military base in the organic-infested south to exploit as a hiding place and impromptu medbay for Skywarp. The purple seeker was in bad shape. Unlike with Blackout, the medic had only sustained Skywarp's life and had not repaired him at all. Skywarp had managed to limp away with the aid of Thudercracker, but he couldn't fly on his own and had some serious damage to his left arm. When Blackout landed, Thundercracker barely spared him a glance before turning back to his downed brother and trying to piece him back together. Blackout grunted a greeting to Starscream, telling him that he had brought the femme.

"Good," Starscream grinned. "Bring the squishy here." Then he added in Cybertronian. "Be nice to her while she's working, Skywarp. You can squish her after she's done."

Blackout quietly told the femme to get out before transforming. He ejected Scorpinok, who happily burrowed into the soft soil.

"Where is the drone going?" asked Starscream suspiciously.

"Probably to find some squishies to play with or just to explore the ground," said Blackout nonchalantly. "I haven't let him loose for days. He's started whining."

Starscream grunted, apparently satisfied. Blackout took the femme to where Skywarp lay. Thundercracker was still kneeling next to him, but had stopped his uncertain movements and put down the crude, makeshift tools. Blackout placed her gently on the ground, and she adjusted the pack on her shoulder warily. Starscream strode up, guns _whirring_. He crouched low, close to the femme, his red eyes glaring at her darkly. Blackout quietly prepared his own canon and watched Soundwave's approach on his sensors. The mech's dampening fields were perfectly calibrated, and Blackout could only sense him because of their private link. The seekers would never see him coming.

"This is my brother, Skywarp," Starscream was saying. "You'll take out that little bag of tools you've got, and you'll start working on him. If you scream or run or do anything that I don't tell you to do, you'll get to see what your internal components look like. And then I'll burn your body away with my energy gun, so your Autobot pals won't ever know what happened to you." Starscream gestured with the weapon he was holding. "So you'll fix him or you'll be--"

"Fried?" she asked sweetly. Blackout watched her take out the 'scanner' and press two buttons. If Blackout had been expecting a grand explosion, he was sorely disappointed. Starscream and Thundercracker just stared at her for a moment before falling flat on their faces like they'd both swallowed too much high-grade energon.

"What the slag was that?" Skywarp demanded. Then, apparently managing to put two and two together, Skywarp snarled and tried to catch the femme with his good hand. Blackout caught it just as Soundwave emerged from the trees. He aimed his canon at Skywarp's chest and fired once, off-lining the already injured mech. He still wasn't dead, but he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon either.

"Traitor!" was the first indication Blackout had that Starscream was back online. His chronometer told him he still had fifteen seconds left. Blackout grunted as Starscream's gun caught him in the knee, bringing him crashing to the ground. He tried to aim his weapon at Starscream, but the larger mech slammed his clawed hand into Blackout's upper arm, pinning it down. Soundwave's canon ripped into Starscream's back, making him turn with a snarl. Blackout pulled his arm free and knock the seeker off balance. He climbed to his feet just in time to face the barrel of Thundercracker's gun.

Slag.

Thundercracker's arm exploded in a shower of sparks, smoke, and shrapnel. Blackout raised an arm to shield his optics and aimed his canon at Starscream.

"You can't do this!" he was shouting. The seeker lunged at him, arms spread and fingers curled inward to rip at Blackout's armor.

Blackout didn't even respond as he shoved his canon into Starscream's chest and fired. The seeker's face was twisted in fury even as his optics flickered and went dark. Thundercracker dived for the relative safety of a large rock formation. Blackout ducked low, and scanned the area for the femme. She was flat on her stomach at least twenty yards away, far from cover and apparently trying very hard to avoid calling attention to herself. Blackout could see the red organic plasma dripping from a gash in her arm. But the femme's wounds would have to wait. Blackout couldn't get a clean shot at Thundercracker from where he was, and apparently neither could Soundwave.

"Ravage, eject," Soundwave said suddenly.

Soundwave's chest folded in on itself and a mass of twisted metal sprang out, forming into a shape like a large organic jungle cat.

"Ravage, attack," Soundwave commanded.

The drone leaped forward, snarling as Thundercracker aimed his weapons on the much smaller 'Con. Two blasts tore into his leg as he darted into the trees. Blackout caught a brief glimpse of the black metal sinking under the cover of the organic matter and circling behind Thundercracker.

"Rumble, eject."

Another drone popped out, large piston-like arms slamming into the ground. Thundercracker stumbled, sending a spray of bullets dangerously close to where the femme lay. Blackout needed to get her out of danger. But when he stood, it was only to have an energy blast tear into his shoulder, sending showers of sparks and a plume of smoke into the air. Blackout growled and sank back down, shutting off the sensor nodes in the damaged area. Slagging glitch was covering his position too well...but only against the enemies he could see. There was another glimpse of black metal through the trees. Blackout's optics narrowed. He raised his gun and fired, drawing Thundercracker's attention.

:_Now, Scorpinok:_

Right on cue, Scorpinok exploded from the ground, his tail curved in a graceful arc and the dirt billowing around him in a wave. Thundercracker barely had a chance to turn before he was impaled by a three-foot spike which sliced cleanly into his neck. Ravage appeared a moment later, latching onto Thundercracker's leg and dragging him down. Thundercracker flailed his arms, trying to keep his balance and exposing his chest beautifully to Blackout's position. He fired once, and Thundercracker's red eyes went black.

Soundwave emerged from the smoke looking as blasé as ever.

"Objective reached," he said. "Captives prepared for transport to Cybertron."

"You can handle them from here then?" Blackout asked.

"Affirmative," said Soundwave. "Requesting information about future objectives."

"Mine?" Blackout asked.

"Affirmative."

He watched as Scorpinok carefully pulled his tail from the seeker and sank back into the ground. The drone came up near where the femme still crouched uncertainly, holding her wounded arm firmly against her chest. Scorpinok chirruped softly, the sound almost soothing.

"Nothing yet," said Blackout. "But I'll figure it out eventually."

Soundwave nodded, pulling out three small circuit interrupters to paralyze the seekers. Blackout approached the femme and found that she was shaking slightly. Instead of scooping her up, he held out his hand beside her, cupped slightly to form a cradle. After a moment, the femme scooted into his palm. Scorpinok chirped, sounding concerned now. The femme reached out and stroked Scorpinok's metal plates. He responded with a loud purring which made the femme smile slightly.

"I will return you to the Autobots," said Blackout. He glanced over at where Soundwave was binding the three seekers together for transport. "They won't be on your world for much longer."

The femme nodded.

When she climbed inside him, she was followed closely by Scorpinok who still rumbled and purred loudly. The noises seemed to soothe the femme. Blackout wasn't opposed to them either. It was nice to listen to Scorpinok as he flew north. The flight was uneventful aside from the occasional bird, but Blackout couldn't fly high enough to avoid them while he was injured, and somehow he didn't think the femme would offer to fix him. Even after an hour of flight, she still trembled against his metal skin. It was only as he landed ten miles to the north of the base and transformed that she finally spoke.

"You know, I thought for a moment that it hadn't worked at all," she admitted. Her voice wavered. "My devise, I mean. I thought that it hadn't worked. That moment when they were staring at me felt like an eternity. I thought, 'I've done something wrong, and now I'm going to die.'" The femme laughed nervously. "For a second there, I thought that my luck had run out."

"Well, it didn't, and you're still alive," he grunted. "You...did good, Squishy."

He turned away.

"I'm pretty sure the Autobots wouldn't mind it if you stayed," she said suddenly. "I mean, once they find out what you've done..."

"I'm not staying, Squishy," Blackout growled. "And, just so we're clear, I don't owe you anything anymore."

"You never owed me anything in the first place."

To this, he only grunted. He didn't want to prolong their conversation anyway. There were three Autobots approaching them from the base. They would no doubt have the femme on their scanners by now, but they might not hesitate to shoot him once he was in the air. He wanted to be gone before they came within shooting range. Blackout transformed and took off, leaving the femme where she stood on the sandy hill. The dust rose up and swirled around her. She raised a hand to shield her eyes and watch him as he flew away. Her mouth moved and Blackout's auditory receptors caught a brief fare-well. Scorpinok responded with his own parting noise, a brief oddly melodic call that sounded like the earth.

Blackout rose up and up and up, though the atmosphere and into the dark void of space. Scorpinok nestled contentedly in his place, now certain that the femme was safe. He purred as Blackout transformed for space-travel and shot from the solar system at the speed of light. It was all behind him now. Finally, all of the complications had been removed.

He was free.

...xXx...

**Note Part 2:** I'm not sure if I'm going to write a sequel for this. It all depends on whether or not I can come up with a plot worth dragging Blackout's aft back to Earth. I didn't make him stay because, even though I changed his attitude a little, I really can't see Blackout giving up his Decepticon allegiance entirely and joining the Autobots or even coexisting peacefully with them. Perhaps in time, he will change, but just under one and a half months isn't enough to erase millions of years worth of hate and conflict. I'm sorry, but no.


End file.
